ART EXHIBITION.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20909, 17 July 1933, Page 10

ART EXHIBITION.

PICTURES BY RHONA HASZARD. PROFESSOR SHELLEY'S APPRECIATION. -Jl. is with pleasure and some sadness that wc meet here to-night,'' said Professor J. Shelley on Saturday night in opening the exhibition of the works of Rhona Haszard. "When one thinks that a person whose pictures one expected to appear each year, that a person whose works have given pleasure to so many is now dead, it is impossible not to feel sorrow.''

The speaker said he had known Rhona Haszard's work before he had known ncr personally. In 1921 he had seen one of her pictures and it was then that he had first become familiar with the artist's name. Instead of the mere student work which it was described to be, he had seen in that picture evidences of the real vision of the painter, the vision that was associated with the great masters of painting such as Velasquez. It was the work of a person with that vision, of one who lived by sight.

Wcincn ami Art. "These are the days of women in the arts. It used to be the fashion in the time of George Moore to consider that women could create in one way only—that is, in the bearing of children—and that other avenues of creative activity were closed to them," said Professor Shelley. "If George Moore was alive to-day he would know now that many of tine paintings formerly ascribed to Rembrandt had really been done by a woman pupil of his." No one would say nowadays that women could not paint, continued Professor Shelley. Once again, after a century of waiting, there were women Royal Academicians. There had been some, he added, about a hundred years ago; but during the nineteenth century man seemed to have kept the other sex well in her place, busied wtih domestic duties. It was now necessary to enquire very carefully before saying "he" or "she" with reference to a work of art; it was practically impossible to tell from a picture whether the artist was a man or a woman, and it was often hard to tell even from the name. In recent years many prizes of merit had been won by women painters.

Rhona Haszard had been a great woman painter, if not one of the greatest. She had not perhaps lived to give the best, but what she had achieved had been great. Very few persons were fortunate enough to be able to express themselves in terms of painting, but Rhona Haszard had been one of those few. Those who had known her knew how full of life she was. Perhaps that was the difference between the artist and the ordinary person—the artist was more living.

A Talented Artist. "I don't suppose anyone was more keenly alive than she was." said the speaker. "One needs only to look at her pupil pictures to realise that. They are no mere scholastic exercises or pieces of hack work; she knew and felt what she was doing." Professor Shelley said he remembered In particular one of her pictures —some broken eggs in a dish—that he had aeen a long time ago; he could see that picture as he was speaking just as vividly as if it were before him then. That showed how there must have been something peculiarly vital about it.

It was sad to think that her bodv had been taken away, but it was good to ieel that we could still be surrounded by her spirit. Christchurch should feel honoured by its association with Rhona Haszard. She had been a pupil in the School of Art here, and the solid training she had received —especially in tone-work under Mr Nicoll—had contributed much towards the success of her later work. In concluding, he expressed the hope that the people of Christchurch would recognise the honour and privilege that had been bestowed on them in this opportunity of seeing the work of this talented artist.

Professor Shelley then declared the exhibition open. A gathering of about a hundred attended the opening of the exhibition. Mr Leslie Greener, who was the husband of Rhona Haszard, expressed his pleasure in being able to show the collection in Christchurch. and in having the exhibition opened by Professor Shelley, who had known Rhona Haszard both as a friend and as ui\ artist. Some of her best pictures, he said, he was not offering for sale to individual buyers, as he wished to reserve them for public art galleries or for his own possession.

An Interesting: Review. The present exhibition of the paintings and lino-cuts of Rhona Haszard provides an unusually interesting review of the development overseas of a notable New Zealand artist. The works on view are arranged chronologically, so that it is possible to trace changes in manner from the work done while she was a pupil at the Canterbury School of Art, through the technically more interesting work done in France and Brittany, to the latest phase shortly before her death in Egypt two years ago. The later work is naturally surer in its technique, and has the broad treatment in planes that observers have come to regard a3 characteristic of Rhona Haszard's painting, but one of the chief impressions gained from such a comparative review is that the one thing really characteristic of all her work is her interest in problems of light. Even in the earliest paintings there is a glow of clear light—illustrated notably by the two "Cashmere Hills" studies. This is continued in the decorative "Sark Morning," which was the first picture she painted in France. At this stage, too, appears her first interest in the treatment of rocky crags, in "At the Foot of the Cliffs." There is about this painting very little of the artist's later extremely simplified manner, but it shows how all her work was based on sound drawing, and it is, incidentally, one of the most pleasing works in the collection.

Later appears the artist's first interest in simplified treatment—in two water-colours. The development from this point is rapid, until "Blossom in the Marne" ana "In the Marne Valley" show the more familiar simplified colour treatment of the artist, and a warm glow of light. It is interesting at this stage to compare with these completed paintings the sketch for "The Marne Valley," which shows that the simplification was achieved only after a normal attack on the problems of draughtsmanship and colour presented by the subject. In all of these paintings the manner of presentation gives the artist a tool by which something more than the details of a landscape is put on canvas. Their warmth of colour is built into a decorative pattern, which makes them more important than purely representational work. No less ability is shown in the portrait heads—"Bernard" and "Sudanese." but the Egyptian landscapes, though still interesting as an approach to a special problem, seem incomplete beside the others.