"WHAT IS ART?"

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 147, 23 June 1926, Page 15

"WHAT IS ART?"

A small, but appreciative audience attended at the Auckland Society of Arts gallery in Kitchener Street last evening to hear Mr. \V. Page Rowe answer the query ""What is Art?" He did not pretend to go thoroughly into a matter which was so wide-reaching, but merely tried to give some helpful hints to people interested in the subject. He pointed out that art touched life very closely, and it meant not merely painting, but architecture, music and dancing. The word "art" had been much abused since the eighties, the period of the inauguration of the art crafts. There was art pottery, art furniture, and he quite expected to come across an art butcher. The subject of »rt wag almost as prolific of discussion and contention as religion and politics. However, there was among authorities more or less of agreement on the meaning and principles of art, and it was in the application of those principles that all the trouble occurred. Mr. Rowe defined art as the expression of emotional experiences by means of selected forms appealing- through the sight or hearing. He showed how very important was the personality of the artist, and how necessary it was for the spectator to have a just appreciation of the idea the artist was trying to express. He was careful to correct the too common mistake that painting was merely imitation, and told about the marvellously painted violin on a door at Chatsworth, which attracted more attention than many of the priceless gems that were liunjr there. That violin was merely a trick in paint, and was not art. Mr. Rowe went on to show how much pleasure and profit one could derive from being- able to appreciate art in any of its forms. Mr. H. E. Vaile, president of the society, who presided, thanked Mr. Rowe cordially for his most interesting and masterly paper.