Betsy’s First Commission Unveiled To Critical Eye

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28251, 12 April 1957, Page 13

Betsy’s First Commission Unveiled To Critical Eye

(Rec. 10 p.m.) ® WINNIPEG, April 9. t Betsy, the Baltimore Zoo’s artistic chimpanzee, had her first commissioned painting —“Winter t in Winnipeg”—unveiled last night i: before a critical eye. c Mr John A. MacAulay, presi- c dent of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, a sat back in meditation while * others in the room awaited his c first impression. It sounded suspiciously close to | a chuckle. Mr MacAulay said he was not •ure the abstract had caught the theme of Winnipeg’s winter. It looked more like a set of ribs - with all the flesh removed. He said Betsy’s technique gave 1 little hope for improvement. J Mr Arthur Watson, Betsy’s J manager at the Baltimore Zoo, 1 insisted, however, that the chim- I Psnzee has a genuine artistic flair. 1 He main tamed that the picture t ♦w

depicts storm clouds moving over trees which are bending under wintry gales. The painting, commissioned by the “Winnipeg Tribune,” arrived in Winnipeg through the customs on Saturday. After several customs officials had examined it at the border, it was valued at more than 50 dollars and listed officially as art. The painting now hangs in a ground-floor hall of the “Tribune building.

Role for N.Z. Singer.— A New Zealander, Estelle Valery (the stage name of Valerie Simpson) takes the principal female role in the Carl Rosa Company’s production at Sadlers Wells of the Berlioz opera “Benvenuto Cellini.” It is the first professional production of this opera on the London stage for almost t a century.—London, April 11.