Robert Keith Reeves Haines b. 1910

  • Curator
Robert Haines was a curator & educator pioneering the integration/exhibition of design objects with fine arts. Haines was also an exhibiting painter. He managed Georges Gallery, Melbourne after 1945, was asst director at the National Gallery of Victoria where he encouraged the acquisition of furniture-maker Schulim Krimper, director of Queensland Art Gallery 1951-60 & director of David Jones Fine Art Gallery 1960-76.
Tags: Curator

TIMELINE

Haines, Robert.

b.1911, St Kilda, Victoria, d. Toulouse, France, 2005.

1932.
For three years, 1932-34, he studied theology at Ridley College but did not enter the Anglican Church. He shifted to social science at Melbourne University, but did not complete studies.

1938.
Group Exhibition, Melbourne. Harold Herbert, “Work of Four Painters.” [including Robert Haines] Stair Gallery, Melbourne, [The Argus, 22 November 1938, p.16.]

1940-44
An education officer in the army education service.

1945-1947
Director, Georges Gallery Melbourne.

1947.
Haines ran a coffee shop in the “Dungeon”, National Gallery School, Little Lonsdale Street and Russell Street, Melbourne. Head of the Gallery School at the time was William Dargie. [Sally Morrison, After Fire, A Biography of Clifton Pugh, Hardie Grant, 2009, p.81]

1947-1951
Assistant Director, National Gallery of Victoria. Haines was the Asst director at the National Gallery of Victoria where he encouraged the acquisition of furniture-maker Schulim Krimper. [“Assistant Director of Art Gallery (appointment)”, Weekly Times, Melbourne, 19 February 1947, p.6]

1951-1960
Haines was the second director of the Queensland National Gallery 1951-1960). He established the Queensland National Gallery Society in 1951 for fund-raising and the Annual Arts Ball which began in 1952. [Glenn Cooke, A Time Remembered Art in Brisbane 1950-1974, Qld Art Gallery, 1995, p.43]

He converted the 1897 Exhibition Building into a gallery space and integrated decorative arts (design) into the displays.

1960-76.
Director of David Jones Fine Art Gallery, Sydney.(consultant until 1985)

“Although department stores in all state capitals had held occasional art exhibitions throughout the 20th century, none was like David Jones’s in Sydney. The company’s chairman, Sir Charles Lloyd Jones, hoped to place “an Australian painting in every Australian home”, and in 1944 established the professionally staffed David Jones Art Gallery. In 1960 his son, another Charles Lloyd Jones, offered Haines a new gallery in their Sydney store.” [Daniel Thomas, Robert Haines (1911-2005) obituary, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 October 2005.]

Writers:

Michael Bogle
Date written:
2020
Last updated:
2020