I saw the Alphonse Mucha exhibition at the new Sydney Modern art gallery last week.
A world-class exhibition in a beautiful gallery is an uplifting thing. To have, as well, a harbour flickering in winter sunshine as backdrop confirms how lucky we are to live not only in a wealthy country, but to have natural beauty all around.
Sydney, as Novocastrians are wary to admit, is an astonishing city, riding a four-decades-long wave of prosperity based on financial and professional services. However, because of its obsession with private property, perhaps, Sydney has lagged other world-class cities when it comes to public arts and culture. Its opera house has done a lot of heavy lifting.
So Sydney Modern is an overdue investment by government. The new building is an expansion of the Art Gallery of NSW, the noble sandstone pile on the eastern edge of the Domain parklands. But while the old gallery looks to the city across government house, the conservatorium and the rest of colonial Macquarie Street, the new gallery bounces down the slopes to the east. Seven pavilions haul in sunlight, house giant sculptures, and invite you onto the best of outdoor spaces.
Sydney Modern cost the NSW taxpayer a hefty $244 million, confirming good things usually cost a lot. Sydney's great and good tipped in a further $100 million as 'philanthropic support' - there is no shortage of plaques and electronic screens telling their names, deservedly.
The Alphonse Mucha exhibition is fitting. Czech-born Mucha pioneered art nouveau in late 19th century Paris. He was an exponent of the commercial street poster, for everything from cigarette papers and champagne to the theatrical performances of Sarah Bernhardt, elaborately drawn and coloured. Mucha's giant pieces are perfect fill for Sydney Modern's vast spaces and a reminder that there is nothing new about the power of commerce in the world of art.
Meanwhile, 120 kilometres north, if you are a crow, another public art project inches towards completion. Newcastle Art Gallery is on track to re-open in expanded premises later this year. Newcastle council confirms the project is fully funded. The final cost will be $53 million (Newcastle Herald, Newcastle Art Gallery bill adds up to extra $13m cost for ratepayers, 3/1/24). The NSW government is contributing $5 million, barely 2 per cent of its funding for Sydney Modern. The federal government is also contributing $5 million, a lot less than its contribution to fix the toilets at Leichhardt Oval. Locally, Newcastle Art Gallery Foundation has raised $12 million. The balance falls to Newcastle council, from its reserves, plus a $10 million loan from NSW treasury, which ratepayers will repay.
All over the world, galleries are a proven urban revitalisation tool. I have seen outstanding examples: the Guggenheim in Bilbao in Spain, the Quadracci Pavilion in Milwaukee, home of the Harley Davidson, and the wonderful MONA in Hobart. Sure, generous donors play a part in all these, but the failure of government to cough up for arts spending in Newcastle, the state's second city, is numbing.
Consider too that the 2024-25 operating budget for the Art Gallery of NSW, including Sydney Modern, is $114.39 million, all from Macquarie Street coffers. The Alphonse Mucha exhibition attracts further (undisclosed) subsidy, from the NSW tourism and major events budget.
It needs saying, all these payments - for the new museum, for its operating expenses, for the cost of international exhibitions - are central to good government. They show we live in a society that values art and cultural life, one where government takes a key role in providing public access to world class experiences. Scratch your head, then, and wonder why this obligation applies only to harbourside sites within spitting distance of Macquarie Street.
There is great excitement for the opening of the new Newcastle gallery. Arts Minister John Graham, a graduate of Newcastle High School, should enhance the celebrations by wiping the Newcastle debt. How can that not be the right thing to do?
