Art Exhibition By Two Universities

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29901, 15 August 1962, Page 17

Art Exhibition By Two Universities

The universities arts festival art exhibition, which is in the showroom of Amuri Motors, Ltd., consists of paintings and sculpture from the Universities of Auckland and Canterbury only. Otago and Victoria have no art schools and. apparently, no artists either. These exhibitions must be of considerable value to the art students. It was not many years ago that students at each art school fervently believed that their particular school was the sole guardian and propagator of the truth, and they never saw anything from the other establishment to convince them otherwise.

Actually both schools used to produce similar results, although at Elam (Auckland) they used a rather darker type of mud than at Canterbury.

Anyway, there is little mud in this exhibition. Instead there is a lot of colour, often used with considerable freshness and ability. There is also a considerable difference between the Auckland and Canterbury painters. The Aucklanders seem to be informed on recent developments and to aim at current international styles, but many of the Canterbury students seem to be suffering from a bad attack of art history. It is rather extraordinary to see so many young painters busy with the

modern styles of half a century ago, exploring byways of German expressionism and cubism. Some real talent is demonstrated in the process, but the existence of such a very large gap between the outlooks of the two groups of students is most surprising. Nevertheless, there is lively and interesting work from both universities, with the paintings generally being more rewarding than the sculpture. —J.N.K. Three Plays Presented The modern language plays presented last evening at the Lutheran Church Hall as a contribution to the University Arts Festival made up in vigour what was sometimes lacking in polish. The three plays were all in French, and during the intervals German poems in lighter mood were read by Dace Nakelis, M. E. Kidson, and O M. Mence.

The first play, “Le Soleil et Les Parapluies,” was acted by a cast of tour from Victoria University. The actors, by adapting an extremely conversational tone and sometimes too inconsequential an air, made this a very intimate play; so much so, that their remarks hardly came further than the middle of the hall at times. Nevertheless, Karin Blomyer made an interesting Francine, with an eloquent manner. Clearly Francine was intended for something more than making umbrellas. Of course, the relationship between her and Isabelle was unconvincing; but it is hard to see how any device of make-up could have improved this, in the circumstances. Jeremy Spanjaard, too, played his part with that air of sophistication which was required of him. “L’Apollcn de Bellac, a much longer play, was presented by Canterbury students . Geraldine Boyes and Grant Wright in the leading parts had most of the dialogue to contend with: but they both acted with considerable animation and brought off most of the conversational fireworks for which the playwright is renowned. The other actors emphasised the eccentricities by which the characters are distinguished one from another, and good performances were given by David Taylor, Well Pickard, Louise McKechnie, and Alan Goodman. . The lonesco olay. presented by Otago, turned into a romp as, of course, it can easily do; and as a result the last part of the play was not as good as the beginning. However. “L’Avenir Est Dans Les Oeufs” was greatly enjoyed bv the audience and ended the programme on a hilarious if somewhat baffiinx note. Roy Sinton acted well throughout, and his was the best performance. Hilary Purves had only to look the part, but She did this to perfection. Grandfather, who emerged with appalling results from his picture frame, was really at his best when he wound up the play —CES