Council Discussion On Sculpture Exhibition

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29990, 27 November 1962, Page 15

Council Discussion On Sculpture Exhibition

Reference in a committee report to the City Council last evening of the exhibition of Recent British Sculpture now in the Robert McDougall Art Gallery prompted a new councillor, Cr. R. H. Stillwell, to decry what he had seen as “nonsense.” and Cr. M. B. Howard, member of Parliament, to compare herself with a sculpture by Henry Moore, and find that she was not a “modern woman.”

Most councillors, however, v ere content to leave art to t artists and sculpting to • e sculptor, agreeing with Cr L Christie, that the council should get on with business about which they knew something. Vi exhibition of rubbish ” <■ i Cr. Stillwell. “I found n.ost uninspiring, meani es* and an insult to good sculpture. I sincerely hope : . : in honour of the genuartists that this lot of : ur sense will not be cont.naed in displays at the gallery " While I admit that the ext: bits were beyond my in-

tellect. 1 have to realise that the work was put forward by some of the world's best sculptors." said Cr. H. E. Denton. ”1 could not perhaps

see eye to eye with the sculptors. but there were a lot who could. ...”

Cr. Howard: You mean they thought they could. Cr. Denton: No. The exhibition was well worth while. It gave a lot of enjoyment to a lot of people. “If that is a spectacle of a modern woman, then I am prehistoric.” said Cr. Howard, waving a picture of a Moore sculpture. ‘‘The heed is as big as an egg and all the rest

is bosom and ... no I’d better not say. It is a great big enormous bosom, a great big enormous stomach, and a great big enormous rump.” “Why should intelligent councillors set themselves up as judges of art?” asked Cr. Christie. “Why, every time we see something or intend to purchase something we can’t appreciate, should we set ourselves up as critics and damn it? We don’t know' anything about art. . . . ” Cr. Howard: We know the figure of a woman. “We know nothing about art.” Cr. Christie repeated. “Are we going to waste time talking about things we know nothing whatsoever about? Let’s leave criticism in the hands of those who know the fundamentals of art.”

“We should be grateful to the British Council for allowing us to see some of the works of top-flight sculptors, whether we like them or not.” said Cr. H. G. Hay. “The exhibition is controversial and will create traffic in our art gallery; and that is surely what we want.”