THE ART SOCIETY.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14636, 10 April 1913, Page 3

THE ART SOCIETY.

THE PICTURES

The Art Society's annual exhibition closes on Saturday, so that those who have not yet- seen i-he excellent collection of pictures that is on view have little timo to lose. Tho art union, the tickets for which are only a shilling each, will he drawn on Friday evening, and though tho sales have been satisfactory so far, there .still remain a large number of very good works from which tho holders of winning tickets in the art union will be able to select their prizes. Miss M. 0. .St-oddart- is always a welcome exhibitor. As a flowiT painter sho has still no equal, though those who remember her exquisite and faithful work years ago will regret her adoption in recent years of tho woolly stylo of painting that i_ soon in her otherwise admirable flower pieces, Nos. 160 and 176 in the present exhibition. She has in No 139 a. fine little picture of bursting apple blossoms, seen against a green hillside. >'v. _07, "A -sor'-we-st Day," is a clever piece of work, .showing stromr artistic perception. .Nos. 14i ami _'j:i represent views at the old homestead at Diamond Harbour. The former is noteworthy for the gorgeous masses of colour in the flower-beds near the gate, and the latter of loss glowing hues, is picture-quo and most pleasing. In No. 310, •'-Entrance to the Domain, - ' tho artist lias been somewhat less successful. The geranium beds make a fino splash of colour, but the grass does not suggest the. smoothlymown lawn, and the wall of the Museum strikes one a s too dark and gloomy. Mr J. Hollobon has improved greatly in recent years. His best work is seen in No. 12. ".Sunshine and Gloom. Port Hills, 1 ' showing a characteristic bit of scenery on tho hills overlooking tho harbour, apparently iv tho neighbourhood of layer's Pass. Tho artist has not been quite happy in his treatment of tho rocks, .and the light and shadow arc perhaps not quite sufficiently accentuated to justify the title of_ the picture, but it is, nevertheless, ono of the most meritorious things that Mr Hollobon has done. His "Autumn Morn- ] ing on the Waikouaifi" is a good subject, not badly treated, but- it suffers somewhat from an unnaturally •'clean" appearance, as if everything—cows, vegetation, hills, and sky—had been polished tin- lor the occasion. -Mr E. \V. Payton, of Auckland, sends some pretty landscapes and a very faithful representation of n wharepuni. The most artistic, ol his works is a .scene at , Eamnrana, llotorua, with bright sunlight shining through some fine willows aud flecking the sandy shore of the lake.

Distinctly both in composition and colouring, is ".Kltxabin-h's Harden" (So. 70), hy Miss H. J. Edgar, iv which children are seen playing in the deep green grass under the shade of a dark deodar. "Summer" (No. l_o). with its brilliant contrast of light- and shade, has also more than average merit. Miss M. I_. K. Tripe has ,i----good portrait study in "La .leunesse." (No. 7o), and "Still Evening" (No. 201), shows fine feeling.

Among tho cleverest work in the Ex* hibition are some little water-colours by Miss 1). Osborne (Nos. IGO, 161,. and _!)0). These charming studies of childlife, delicious in colouring and beautiful in drawing, aro of quite unusual excellence. Tho artist-has evidently great sympathy with little children; and she pourtrays their gravity and their grief with a skill that carries its own appeal. Jn her way she is as successful in this kind of subject as Kate Greenaway used to be. with the added o.'iarm of a finer colour-sense. If Miss Osborne choso she could, we believe, make a name for herself .as, an. iJlustrator., of the best cHildren's books. ' Xo. 292 i_ in tho sumo style, though in - mote sombre vein. Besides these, the artist has in No. 31 a promising por.rait, and in Xo. 45 she shows some skill in landscape painting.

Miss V.. K. Robison lias two decorative pictures in No. -33, "Winter Babies," and No. 314 "Off to the Land of Nod." Both, in spite of being placed over doors, have attracted much attention. Allot tier decorative work is Miss D. K. Richmond's "Road Near Feilding" (No. 18_). a low-toned study of tree-, samowhat conventionally treated, by a curving road, witb trailing rain clouds .sleeping up from tbe back. Miss Richmond has also two small and effective 'studies'of rata trees in all tho glory of their blood-red bloom. Mr V. Wright's pictures show ilittle chango from his usual aoeurato and careful style. There is nothing inspired a taut them, but tbey are pleasing representations of somo"of the typical and beautiful scenery of the North Island. Tlie one work inwhich he "lets hiniself go," 'Noonday" (No. 140), a garden scene drenched in .sunshine, is decidedly his best and most attractive exhibit.

Mrs Wall work, who is a miniature painter of considerable skill, sends two gocd examples of this style of art. She has also several admirable portraits. Major Gee shows a somewhat striking and unusual picture of Whitewash Head (No. 43) and a typical land-cnpo on the plains (No. .08)."both possessing no little merit. 3lr W. S. Wauehop's most noticeablo exhibit is a "Nocturne, •Sydney Harbour,'' in which effective use is made of the city lights against tho blue-black sky and water. Miss Gillett Culliford has two faithfully-painted flower studies. Water-lilies" (No. 52) and ■Japanese Iris" (No. 117). Four of Mrs M. J. Rogers's pretty little landscapes deal with Cornish scenery, and of these. "Pendeeu" (No. -142) is perhaps the best. She has _lso a study of part- of an old church on Mont St. Michael, which is decidedly inUve-t----ing.

Mr J. M. Shaw shows the possession of artistic feeling in "Evening, Auckland Harbour" (No. 09). Miss Hilda Chapman lias caught, in No. 88, tho softened light effect produced by sunshine filtering through a pine forest, and Miss Vera Chapman has some clever work in her studies of Bruges, a city which is well represented in tho present exhibition. The young lady in Miss Mabel Hill's picture, 'Chrvsanthemnms" (No. 128). is "faultily faultless, icily regular," and is apparently arranging the flowers whilo looking at something else. The drawing is, however, cood, and tho colouring, though somewhat weak, is harmonious. -Mr Sydney Smith's two littlo water-colonrs of Sumner show that ho ___> not lost his delicate touch.

Mr Harry Rountree, who has now firmly established himself at Home, is represented by several clever works. "The Prince and the Witch" (No. 147) breathes tho very air of magic. Nos. 188 and 192 are proof alike of his skill and his imagination, depicting as they do some of the monstrous beasts seen by Professor Challenger and his party in their visit to the "Lost World," a_ described by Sir A. rv>nan T)oyle. "The Mad Hatter" (No. ___) is intensely humorous, though. i. is not the mad hatter that most of us have known since childhood. "A Difference of Opinion" suggests an episode from "Peter Pan." 31r Rountree wields a facile brush, and with his undoubted ability Jus future should be assured. Miss Helen Fox has a number of pleasing little pictures of Swiss and French scenes, which have mostly found purchasers. Md A. F. Nicoll sends some meritorious work of which "The Canal, Rotterdam," and "The Belfry, TTruges" may be regarded as tbe best. Miss Nora Gardner has caught the cool fresh tints of spring very well in No. _(jo. Mr J. Balfour sends somo interesting landsct»i>e studies of Scottish

and Irish scenes, and Miss C. I Wilding exhibits two or three I figttre studies and Dutch views which | show promise. Mr A. S. Wood has a ; very good picturo of trees on the side ! of a hill road, with hills in tlie dis- : tanee. The clouds suggest wind, and there is ' a fine fecline of fres- ' air I about the work. Mr Wood has also a | picture of the old. quarry, Town Melt. | i Dunedin. It is low iv tone and ol ! , beautiful quality. | Mr W. A. Bowring exhibits several ] pastel portraits. His most successful work, a large oil painting, ontitled "Dirty Weather., Napier," did not ; arrive in time to be- huirg. but is ; on view in tho permanent collection j room. It represents an' angry sea < breaking against the marine parade at ; Napier, and the figures, the wet road, and the drenching spray are excellently managed. Mr Sydney Thompson has also eight pictures on view in tho same room whiHi 'iime too late for exhibition, j They will be rather a surprise to his many admirers in Christchurch, for : since his return lo France he has ! changed his style in a remarkable man- j ncr, and, as most people will think, ; not for the better. His restrained tone ; has given place to the most brilliant colouring, and in places his drawing i.« doubtful. ■ There are a number of other works in the exhibition, all of more or less merit. -Indeed, tho society has rarely had an exhibition in which the quality I maintained, generally speaking, so high j a level. There is hardly a picture that is .not" worth .hanging, and" there are many that show how steadily the work or our artists, both professional and amateur, improves.