SERMONS iN STONE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 289, 6 December 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

SERMONS iN STONE.

A NOTE ON OBELISKS.

MORE ORIGINALITY NEEDED,

(By SETQjST.)

A series of figures by Jacolr Epstein adorns the building bought some time ago by the New- Zealand Government and formerly the home of the' B.M.A. in London. Recently T read in a Dominion monthly a paragraph commenting on a proposal that the figures should be sent to New Zealand. It was worded in this vein: "It is doubtless only a cunning attempt to palm, off London's white elephants on an inoffensive country which has done nothing to deserve them. No! No! Let. us cling to that defective, art sense which refuses to see beauty in the grotesque." Let us cling to 'that defective art sense . .. . ! Lightly written, doubtless but indicative of a smug satisfaction and insularity that promise, from the viewpoint of art, to be the death of us. Whether one admires Epstein or not, one is bound to. admit his sincerity, acknowledge his originality and .respect his ruthless force. Heaven knows, we could 4 do/;V»'ith;.; -{V''; littlef fmore ' sincerity, :4pgirtaiity aiijdforce so far as sculpture goes in this land of obelisks and'cairns." ° . k " .''V'" "" •' ■ . , | The suggestion that the statues be sent here is ah admirable one, ' unless: the Government, scrabbling feverishly for revenue, puts a prohibitive poll-tax oil Epstein statues on account of their oriental cast of countenance! ! . The Sculptor's Art. At all events the time may be opportune here for a short review of our achievements and possessions in the way of commemorative art in stone and bronze. There are one or two outstanding examples of art of the sculptor". First I would place that perfect war memorial in the • grounds of the , Auckland Grammar school. There ,is beauty in every line of it and Mr. R. 0,. Gross, who has already won more praise from sritics overseas than he is likely to receive in New Zealand if lie lives to be a centenarian, lias sculpt a figure.of Youth Incarnate that would win him acclaim in any of the older lands. Then there is the Scott statue against a leafy setting by the River Avon. Seen 011 a silver evening its snowy whiteness outlined like a cameo against the green_ of willows, it is something to cherish in memory. Lady Scott,. now Lady HiltonYoung, was the sculptor. . 111 the Auckland Domain we have the Valkyries presented by Mr. R.-S. Hellaby—a fascinating gift that many Aucklanders have not yet, troubled to see. . There are a few others. Trousers in Stone. On the other side of the picture, what have we? A distinctly'melancholy outlook. There is a queer mesalliance that one. finds in ev.ery city of importance the Empire over. Queen Victoria and Robert Burns, by some unhappy prank of fate, are destined, to pass their lives together, immortal and'immobile. Leaving them' out of the, consideration, one is "forced'to'-'the conclusion, that' the outstanding features of New Zealand sculpture are men as remarkable, as those "whose heads grow beneath.'their shoulders"; anil soldiers. Tlie first class are remarkable in >that r where their legs should be they have grown drainpipes; and the soldiers, for their variety. There are soldiers at attention, soldiers stand: ino- at ease, soldiers recumbent," soldiers willi puttees and without; - 011 c, at least,, with some form of elephantiasis of - the head—all of them staring" fixedly into space as if in mute protest at,mans inhumanity to the seniblance ; .of njan. Reverting to the subject of trousers iu art: It has been pointed out frequently that even thin legs, encased in stockings and court trousers—since public men are, unfortunately, .seldom of the build or inclination to be sculptured, in the nude—are infinitely to be preferred to trousers as we moderns know them; And what,' excellent examples of the folly of stone trouserings we possess, in New Zealand. The editor of the "Tailor and Cutter," that .trenchant critic of sartorial flaws in portraits of famous men, would run berserk if lie caught a glimpse of dear old John Ballance's trousers 111 the "rounds "of Parliament Hoiise in Wellington or of Sir George Grey's in Albert Park. Hypothesising that he still had tlie strength to stagger to Oratia, -he. would make his departure from the Dominion in a cloud of purple steam. For at Oratia -are stone trousers supreme, worn by Lord Kitchener. And if there .be any dear souls who hold a brief for the skirt in art, let them take a glance at the' amaranthine beauty of the model worn by poor Nurse Cavell at the Auckland Hospital. Nothing more calculated to discourage women from entering a noble profession could be conceived.

Down With Obelisks! 1 am an obeliscophobe. - An obelisk to me is anathema. It is, the apotheosis of tlie toothpick. ' Arid' New Zealand is positively littered with them. Where four or five men .are gathered together to do honour to; a departed friend inevitably their thoughts turn to obelisks, or if not obelisk's, then cairns, which have equal power to dry the bones and turn blood into water. The Massey Memorial in Wellington, conventional ,enough, is yet sufficiently graceful and dignified to adorn a capital city. I trembled "for a whole twelve-month in fear than an obelisk might be chosen to commemorate that splendid old fighter.

111 Europe, of course, commemorative art has scaled the heights.' In younger America, of recent years, work has been achieved tliat, for originality in conception and execution, may fairly be claimed to equal anything that the world has seen. We in New Zealand have a history that is equally worthy , of commemoration and a set of national figures who, though small'in number, are worth remembering worthily. And we remember these men and" these things'by the toothpick method! 'Where the great Treaty of Wait'angi was signed we have an obelisk; wherever' Captain Cook set foot in this country we Jhave obelisk's. Hitherto the only statue of the great explorer Ave have had is over a brewery in: Auckland.. . Another is coming to Christchurcli. At Akaroa, when it :was decided to mark the spot where the British flag was first'flown in the south and - to; give - ; body to the pretty ; a;nd apocryphal story -of the race between liEiigland. and France to claim Te Waipounamu, what did they do '!■ No prize •is offered; - winner of ; the puzzle lis Mrs.- Smith, who,has <guessed, correctly they erected an obelisk. At Ngariiawaliia,,once, the.. Footstool of Tawhaiao, f iii commemoration of the line of Maori kings is a. tiny .obelisk and a dirty one at that. . They did better on'the .site of Marsden's 'first Sermon to the Maoris. Th'ey placed* a. cross there. But surely .all tlieSe things were as clarion calls to sculptors had they been bidden to exerjcise their imagination upon them. And -the lovely legends that the Maoris have ■given to us, what of them? .

The new Government might make shistory by creating a Portfolio of. Fine .Arts, the Minister to possess the right to veto any memorial scheme that failed to meet with the approval of an expert advisory committee. Unless something of ;the kind is done we shall wake up one 'of these mornings to read that a uational body , has decided to make an excursion in commemorative art in honour of our ;one member .of the most exclusive Order of , Merit—Sir Ernest Rutherford—and that after much thought and a wide call for competitive designs it lias been decided to do so with an obelisk. A plaque will'be inset, doubtless, and on it will be a mortar and pestle (as a small tribute to science). It is time we awoke to this insidious-peril.