N.Z. ‘Cultural Drain’ Comment In London

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30586, 31 October 1964, Page 12

N.Z. ‘Cultural Drain’ Comment In London

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, October 29. The brain and cultural drain from New Zealand was mentioned by Sir Thomas Macdonald, the High Commissioner, in opening at the Qantas Gallery, Piccadilly, London’s first exhibition of representative works by New Zealand painters.

The 35 paintings, a blending of the abstract and the representational, from 25 of the 50 artists who submitted works for consideration attracted a large crowd. “I never cease to be amazed at the number of New Zealanders to be found in this country at any given moment,” said Sir Thomas Macdonald. “Some are on holiday. Others are resident here, having found conditions to their liking. Among the latter group are to be found many whose lives are dedicated to the professions or the arts.

“There is talk now and then of a brain drain or a cultural drain from New Zealand, and comments are made concerning those who leave the land of their birth and settle overseas. “Yet it is readily understandable why such decisions are made. “New Zealand is a young country. Growing, yet—but still young. Australia, across the Tasman, is bigger, much bigger, but also a young country. “Many young New Zealanders do find what they seek in Australia and settle there.

“Most, however, feel the magnetism of the ‘Old Country.’ Many have ancestral links that intensify, that pull, so they travel the full 12,000 miles. “Powerful Stimuli” “Here they find age, traditions, the landmarks of history—all those things that young countries do not yet possess. “In the fields of science, medicine, surgery, architecture, the scope is wider here, the numbers greater. There is more to be seen and learnt. “So it is in the field of art, where there are more people to be met, more discussions to be had, and where there is more work to be done. “The atmosphere must carry very powerful stimuli to inspiration.” Sir Thomas Macdonald said that earlier artists and engravers in New Zealand had done a splendid job in expressing the harshness, the freshness, the adventure, and struggle, of colonial life and settlement.

“In due course, the artists of today will be judged by the same exacting critic—time,” he said. Among those who exhibited were Douglas Mac Diarmid, John Forrester, John Hutton, James Boswell, Edward Bullmore, Charles Tylee, Peter Smith, Michael Browne, William Culbert, Kenneth Bennetts, Jean Horsley and Ralph Hotere.