ENGLISH ARTIST'S VISIT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 139, 14 June 1930, Page 14

ENGLISH ARTIST'S VISIT.

The Hon. Mrs. Vane, of London, is at present in Auckland. Mrs. Vane, who is New Zealand born, is also known as the artist, K. Airini Vane. She arrived on Wednesday from Christchurch where she and E. S. Barker (Mrs. Norman Hope) held a very successful exhibition of their work.

The last time Mrs. Vane visited Auckland was in 1921 and.oll her arrival here she was impressed with the changes that have taken place during the last nine years. Auckland seemed, she said, to be in a chrysalis stage. Owing to its growth it did not seem to be as "tidy" as it was, but as the building became more uniform that would no doubt pass, the one great thing that struck her was the change in the waterfront. In its beautiful harbour Auckland had a priceless inheritance, but unfortunately, from its present appearance,, the waterfront did not have the beauty that it once had. She hoped that authorities would see that native trees, the beautiful cabbage and pohutukawa were planted on the shores before it was too late.

Mrs. Vane has travelled extensively and is in a position to compare scenic beauties. Her stay in New Zealand is indefinite and shortly she will leave Auckland for a while and go to the Bay of Islands. It will be remembered that Mrs. Vane's father was Captain Mair, very well known in the North Island. Her mother was Miss Kate Sperry, New Zealand's first portrait painter, examples of whose work hang in the Christchurch Museum. Whilst in the north, Mrs. Vane will paint some pictures, and on her return to Auckland she intends to hold an exhibition. Painting in New Zealand is fascinating, she said, especially in the Mackenzie Country, with its golden tussock plains, rosy foothills'and beautiful blue mountains with gleaming glaciers. Mrs. Vane has won recognition for her work as an artist in the Old World. She studied with Lamorna Birch, K.A., and Lucy Ivcmp-Welsh, the animal painter, and was also at the Byram Shaw school. Whilst in Vienna and Verona she sketched with Leonard Richmond, who is known for Ids watercolour work. Her own water-colours show a wide range of subjects. There are picturesque castles of England, country scenes, lake and snow-clad mountains of America, vivid pictures of Northern Africa and Italy, and glimpses of our own New Zealand.