AUCKLAND ART

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 134, 8 June 1944, Page 2

AUCKLAND ART

EXHIBITION OPENED

SIR H. BATTERBEE'S APPEAL

"We look forward to the building of an adequate art gallery in Auckland, which will find room for exhibitions of the Auckland Society of Arts, whose membership is ever growing, and also for other small cultural bodies," said the president of the society, Mr. Richard Gross, when opening the sixty-third annual exhibition of New Zealand art in the Art Gallery yesterday. Owing to an indisposition, the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in New Zealand, Sir Harry Batterbee, who was to have opened the exhibition, was unable to attend.

Mr. Gross said the society always had the utmost difficulty in finding wall-space for its own artists. This exhibition consisted not entirely of the work of Auckland artists, but was preponderantly so this year, for various wartime reasons. He considered the usual standard was maintained.

Finally, he said that he hoped those present would stimulate interest in New Zealand art by talking about it and buying pictures for their own homes and for friends. Mr. Gross then read a few remarks which Sir Harry Batterbee had written for him, commenting on the revival of interest in all forms of art in England during the war, and mentioning particularly the popularity of mural painting. In 150 British restaurants, murals adorned the walls, said Sir Harry, and he felt there was no reason why such artistic decoration should stop at restaurants. He would like to see murals used in Town Halls, theatres and railway stations.

Beautiful Cities

"Appreciation of art is of no value unless it is practically applied," Sir Harry said. "We want the 'better world' of the future to be also a more beautiful world. Cities must be well planned and homes and furniture graceful. In promoting the love of beauty and truth in all its forms, a society such as this is doing work of national importance, and should be given every encouragement."

Between 300 and 400 paintings were exhibited, and the war did not seem to have seriously affected the number of men contributors. Many well known names were represented by several paintings. There was little evidence of the impact of war, the exhibits being as usual mostly landscapes, with a sprinkling of portraits and a section of black and wlnte drawings and of designs. There were several pieces of work of the "modern" school, and many which showed a progressive trend and originality of approach without being extreme.