ENGLISH AND CONTINENTAL PICTURES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 129, 1 June 1923, Page 3

ENGLISH AND CONTINENTAL PICTURES.

EXHIBITION IN AUCKLAND. Artists and the general public will _i interested in an exhibition of painting; by European artists that is now beinj£ held in the upper room of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. It is the largest selection of pictures that has been imported since the two fine collections brought out by Mr. J. Bailey at the time of the last Industrial Exhibition in Auckland. While the room is not a very good place for showing pictures to the most advantage, the best possible under the circumstances has been done, and already the exhibition has attracted a large number of people. Many wellknown English and Continental names are to be found in the exhibition.

There are gallery pictures, and pictures for the home, and they vary in size from a large eight feet canvas of a ship coming into port, to little "notes" a few inches square. A very charming picture is No. 58, "Cattle in Stream,"' by Collins, R.B.A. It is a hot summer's

day in leafy June, and three sleek cows have waded into the reedy pool under the shadow of some willows. There is excellent suggestion of green coolness and bovine content. Just near it is No. 61, "A Gipsy Encampment," by J. R. Smythe, which is notable for its poetic treatment, giving just that halfmystic impression of these strange dwellers in tents that most of us possess. "An Interior ,, (No. 62), by Hans Hansen, R.W.S., is a clever handling of a difficult subject, the treatment of marked contrasts in light and shade in a highwindowed hall, where lawyers in their biack gowns and white wigs congregate. Two very pleasing little tnings are a Dutch landscape, by J. Dupre, low in i tone and . delightfully harmonious in trpatment; and one by an unknown artist of those motherly black and white cattle in a meadow that is so characteristic of Holland. In "Notre Dame dcs Miracle?. Orleans," a water-colour, by S. Prout, there is some clever drawing; and a picture that will appeal to connoisseurs is a chalk sketch of a man's head and shoulders, by T. Leighton. "Hay Making in Surrey." liy -A. Sinclair, has caught much of the peaceful charm and atmosphere of England's rural beauty. Another canvas that will be desired by many is No. np, "Sleep, My Baby, Sleep." by (J. D. Leslie, R.A., who has done a little Burns poem in paint. There are two other pictures without either labeJs or numbers which deserve notice—one of some nuns in a quiet convent yardon. reminiscent of Fred Walker, and the other a quay scene that seems to be of French origin. Jn all, there are 100 pictures, and the subjects vary from battle pieces to quiet little genre subjects, so that ail tastes are suited.