SKETCH CLUB

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25551, 20 July 1948, Page 3

SKETCH CLUB

—< annual exhibition The most ambitious exhibition yet held by the Sketch Club of the Canterbury University College School of Art was opened last evening in the i Durham Street Art Gallery. This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the club. There is a much wider variety of subject matter this year than there was at the club’s 1947 exhibition. Although land and seascapes predominate, there is not the usual monotony of ever-recqrring views of the Avon. Members have evidently travelled far, and looked intelligently for subjects of interest. They have not, however, sacrificed beauty for the merely unconventional. Much of the work makes a instant appeal by the beauty of its colour and composition. Most of it can be appreciated even by the completely uninitiated. There are some specially pleasing portraits and still life studies. Apart from oil and water colours, the exhibition includes etchings, lino cuts, and metal work.

The foundations laid by the club during the 25 years of its life augured well for the future of art, not only in Canterbury, but in the whole of New Zealand, said the president of the Canterbury Society of Arts (Mr A. E. Flower)» who opened the exhibition. ‘These young people are going to lay the foundation of art more firmly than ever in this country,” he added. “People to-day are overdosed with mechanical implements, such as radios and films. It is time they got the worthwhile things into their homes.” For variety and originality, the work of the club ‘ compared more than favourably with the work of the Art Society, Mr Flower continued. He referred to a mural by Miss Noeline E. Flute which was exhibited. This work was commissioned for the Hotel Cecil. Mr Flower said he hoped that more such works would be commissioned for hotels. They would improve the atmosphere of such places, and would also heln to improve the people who visited them.

Mr Flower said that it was hoped to have an exhibition of Canterbury art during the centennial year. The Canterbury University College School of Art had been the cradle of art in New Zealand, he said. It was also hoped, before that time, that it would be possible to bring out a loan collection of art from England. “We hope to get one or two from the King s own collection,” he added. “The ball has already been set rolling. But we will have to get the support of the public and of the City Councils in the four main centres. I hope that everyone in the art world in New Zealand will back us up. We have never had anything on this scale before.” The exhibition will be held for one week.