LIGHTING OF GALLERIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 72, 24 March 1923, Page 15

LIGHTING OF GALLERIES.

SEAGER'S METHOD J '"" APPROVED. ITS LIMIT* AX ill I"X. TTUAU.Y. L.i 'N!><>\. 1-Vhruary 7. jlr. S. Hiir.-i Si-iiyi'i- has made very ■tetwivo 1 "■ ,llr 'liie-tiou of etJ X . C ',sl. i.-iiiii.i vi jrallprips andmusoums j ), Bl i "iiiu-n *>ii it! iiiiiiu- ;is to secure their ti'st in lmviiip the Surgeant Uallerv at WaiiKiiniii built in accordance Uh hi* virw-. i Briefly his aim is to secure by cort ., liehtinK 1 li.it picturos and other oL>et» kIiuII !■■ flu'wn under :i ihrht mi" 1 hat "liili- mi dning retleotions g ofu-n "K.ir.Ku ..n..-, xicu ..hall be as arlv as ]■■ —!•'!■' I'liminatpil. This Mr. J ' r ~,v..ini.!ishcs by what he terms » to Lide" pillcrio*. 31is plan requires a Joul.le pitclu-d room with B kvli"ht9 on the slopes opposite—an cT/cnfial- "n.' vails of the giillery. Hetwwn the iw.i »l«i»ed top-side lights there may I h> a roof space larger or smaller in accordance with the exigencies of the building* size It is Biipjfi'-'ti"d that thi* effect is analogous to that foon by an observer in ■m everyday experience. If at night one is in a'triimcar uml the current is suddenly switched off. leaving the car in darkness everything in the roadway is , Fcen very clearly t<l just the extent that the street lamps light them up. ■\Vhen tlip light is switched on again, the observer himself illuminated; all outside beeomoK a medley of reality and reflection. The interpolated roof be- ■ tween the top-side lights keep the observer in the shade, while the light is ■ thrown on the opposite wall whereon; the pictures hang and are seen there, j freer frnm reflection than in other circum?tancc~. While Mr. Seager's pnpor is mainly devoted to the analysis of the lighting Fystems of various great galleries in Britain ami on the Continent, a portion of it is devoted to the effect of the wall colouring and the angle at which pictures are hung. All these factors are increasingly recognised as important, and are being more and more studied by gallery authorities. The Royal Academy itself was later than other bodies in its acknowledgment of their importance, when not long ago it had its walls redone in a sober neutral tint and restricted its exhibits so that it became less of a kaleidoscope nightmare than it was when wall space was wholly obliterated by the pictures on show, this question of the colour and texture of the background indeed is complementary to that of lighting. They cannot be separated. Mr. Seager's reprint is to be welcomed in that it marshalls much evidence relevant to the question as a whole, and the fact, that the R.1.8.A. is to set aside a meeting for its discussion is a tribute to the value of his discussion. ' Sir Martin Coiuvay, a trustee of the Wallace Collection, paid a tribute to the efficacy of Mr. Seager"s method in his presidential address to the Museums' Association. *, Mr. Sotißcr's method is undoubtedly successful in largely ridding us of reflections which are not only confusing but tiring to the picture gallery sightsocr. But Mr. Reager confesses that it does rrot wholly eliminate reflections. . Discussing the question with an autiiority on our national galleries here, the efiiency of Mr. Seager's method was fully- acknowledged. This authority considered it doubtful whether Mr. Seager's method, involving as it does, series of bays, lends itself to fleasingj architecture. The appearance of the , room themselves, their genera' architectural effei-t. are of an import-rice, so great, as to outweigh such advantage as the side-top lighting actteveu He was inclined to think that top-lighting, which Mr. Seager condemns, is. after all - sufficient —and the new Wallace Gallery roof is of this type —and that the worst effect of reflections can always be dealt with by curtains or other methods. Our correspondent suggested to this expert that the problem in a sunny country like Xew Zealand was not precisely the same as that confronting gallery authorities here. In reply the expert described a new system being proposed in France whereby no direct sunlight is to be allowed to fall on the pictures. The light is to be made to fall on some reflecting surface and the reflected rays only are to be used for illumination. While this system would secure diffused sunlight for illumination and to that extent would eliminate excessive reflection from glazed surfaces and pictures protected by glass, it ie feared that the amount of sunlight available in England will be insufficient to illuminate a gallery. But the jdea would have its usefulness for Xew Zealand.