Three Approaches To Painting

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30682, 23 February 1965, Page 14

Three Approaches To Painting

Three of . the ways the artist can approach his work are illustrated in three Arts Festival exhibitions which opened in the city yesterday. The artists who travelled with the first expeditions to New Zealand sought to record what they observed, with as much accuracy and detail as possible. Their impressions of a strange, untamed country—its ' geography, native people, scenery, and their own momentous arrival—these are faithfully set down in the charts, prints, engravings, lithographs and watercolours displayed in the Canterbury Museum.

Cook’s famous map of New Zealand is shown, plus “a striking likeness” of the great mariner, “accurately drawn from an original painting and engraved by W. Thornton.” And a turbulent encounter between Cook’s men and the Maoris was “Drawn on the spot by Jas. Cleverly.” There are some of the first settlements, and a subsequent tracing of their growth. But there is more than

purely historical interest in this exhibition, which was arranged by Qantas. Not only what the artists saw, but their way of seeing, is captured. The fine Maori heads evoke an image of “the noble savage;” an almost Gothic air of mystery pervades many of the wild landscapes. The artist, even despite himself, appears in his own creations. Painting can also be a hobby, a satisfying and demanding way of spending one’s more leisured hours. A fairly considerable portion of the work from members of the country’s art societies, exhibited at the McDougall Art Gallery, comes into this clast of amateur or “occasional” painting. Much of it is representational, and aims to please rather than excite or disturb.

However, some of the 100 painters included are professional in every sense of the word, and their work, needless to say, is of more imposing , stature. Particularly memorable are Woollaston’s rugged “Teramakau Landscape”; a fine abstract by William Jones, a member of the NeW Zealand Academy, Wellington; and the spacious, graceful “Fisher Boy” by the Christchurch sculptor, Ria Bancroft.

Two aspects of the exhibition are unfortunate. While the grouping together of the work from each society is logical enough, this has resulted in quite dissimilar and even clashing styles being placed alongside one another. And the collection as a whole sits uneasily in the awesome company of giants like Nolan, Drysdale and Dobell. For the painters shown in the School of Fine Arts riverside exhibition, opposite the Y.M.C.A., painting is intensely a matter of personal vision, expressed fully and fearlessly. And whether the viewer is horrified or delighted, he will certainly be compelled to react strongly: what he sees is original, uncompromising, and for once, the word applies exactly—contemporary.

Broadly speaking, this “left bank” show reflects the fruitful reaction of European influences upon a basically colonial background. Echoes of earlier Picasso can be found in Judi Cheesman’s still life compositions; Roualt comes to mind with Tom Kreisler’s magnificent “Family Group”; and, nearer home, Nolan is recalled in

“Extermination”, a disquieting work by Hutson. Much has been learnt from the German expressionists. Yet such influences, though thoroughly absorbed, do not dominate—each painter has his distinctive language. Whatever the reason, there seems to be a trend towards greater freedom of expression at Ham. This is most clearly apparent in two strongly individual works by Philip Trustum, a fiery abstract, and a landscape conceived in vast imaginative terms.

This exhibition richly repays open-minded viewing: it reveals the considerable distance the artists have travelled—and the intriguing territory ahead. Three exhibitions: three approaches: and, in the case of the third, three visits—or even more if possible.