Doors close on Golden Age

THE Golden Age of Couture exhibition closed yesterday after attracting more than 75,000 people to Bendigo Art Gallery during a fabulous 15-week run.Gallery director Karen Quinlan said bringing the exhibition to Bendigo was a huge achievement.“It’s been fantastic,” she said.“I thought it would be popular, but I didn’t think we would have that kind of volume of people.”Ms Quinlan said 75,000 people was a figure typical of a year’s attendance at the gallery in recent years.“We never could have predicted (it would be this big),” she said.Ms Quinlan said she felt disappointed so many people had to queue to get a glimpse of the exhibition, but was otherwise extremely happy.“Overall I think it has really helped the community, and the economic benefit will be huge.”Bendigo is the only Australian city where the collection will be shown during its world tour.Asked how the gallery secured the exhibition, Ms Quinlan replied: “If you don’t ask, you don’t get anything”.Staff from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, which owns the exhibition, arrived in Bendigo in readiness for the de-installation phase, which is expected to take a couple of weeks.The remarkable fashion collection will then be shipped to Hong Kong.Ms Quinlan conceded there was some relief for gallery staff when the doors closed on the exhibition for the last time at 5pm yesterday.“I know there was a great sense that it’s finished and we can take a deep breath and look forward to the Archibald,” she said.The Archibald Prize exhibition will open at the gallery on May 30.