National Gallery’s Attitude Under Fire
(New Zealand Press Association) NELSON, April 12. A newspaper critic blamed the National Gallery for what he claimed was New Zealanders’ lack of interest in art.
Mr Russell Bond, of Wellington, said their attitude was merely a reflection of the gallery’s reaction to artists who did not conform to traditional ways. Mr Bond was addressing an audience of 250 at the opening of the Nelson Suter Art Society’s autumn exhibition. At a ceremony tomorrow afternoon, said Mr Bond, a sculpture by Barbara Hep-
worth would be shown to the Wellington public for the first time.
“I have no doubt there will be a self - congratulatory speech in which the gallery will take pride in the way it’s keeping up with the times.
“But much as I admire the work, of Hepworth, I’d gladly give this one away for some indication that the National Gallery has the slightest interest in what is going on in contemporary art in New Zealand.
“The National Gallery should be collecting the work of all the most prominent artists in New Zealand today. It’s an essential duty, if only from the historical point of view,” he said.
“The gallery does buy the work of popular painters, but it completely ignores the output of others who, in my view, are doing much more important work.”
National Gallery’s Attitude Under Fire
Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30724, 13 April 1965, Page 18
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