Controversial Paintings Seem Innocent Enough On Home Soil

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30827, 12 August 1965, Page 19

Controversial Paintings Seem Innocent Enough On Home Soil

There al signs that spring is lust around the cornr. In the botanic prdens, the McDougal Gallery has beaten tit daffodils in returning to life, after a parti<larly nasty winter, nd with the rather controversial exhibitio, “Contemporary Peiting in New I Zealand' The exhition is just back from Lon«n, where it was hung in th architecturally exciting Cofcnonwealth Institute builAg. and it should attract to self very considerable atteiion. Many persons will certaiv wish to visit it if only toexamin" the cause of all thdfuss 1 But it fhould be said at once that while adverse comments w(e almost entirely the repowd remarks of laymen. thd professional London crits were as one in judging the exhibition a worth wile and successful experimet which should be repeated 1 N.Z. Favour Certaiß writers complained the exhil tion lacked an identifiable favour which could be label! 1 New Zealand; but this todafter all, is the rule rath r than the exception, and in his respect critics could jv as fairly have said this abo British painting. It wa also apparent from the Lonin reviewers, in spite of preefe instructions to the contrarj (Mr P. A. Tomory’s catalog* note), that many critics compared the New Zealand works directly with Austrain painting (with which, pf course, they were very nich more familiar and which Jas enjoyed boom conditions during the last 10 years) Seei ? the exhibition once more i ack on New Zealand soil. all seems innocent enoug and one seriously wondts, in spite of all the fears, loubts and pleas to the contr; y, if the artists in this exhib ion have not already

developed idiomatic and symbolic painting possessing a distinctive dialect. Local critics may be able to see beyond the “pallid internationalism” of one London writer who probably has never visited New Zealand and whose pictorial knowledge of this country leans too heavily on tourist publicity and coloured reproductions. ! Selection The exhibition comprises 69 works, more than half of which were completed in 1964 and the remainder during the five years 1959-64. No-one, then, will challenge the use of the word “contemporary” though many may disagree with the painters selected to represent New Zealand painting: Angus, Binney, Dew. Drawbridge. Ellis, Goldberg. Gopas, Hanly, McCahon. Mrkusich, Peebles. Ritchie. Sutton, Trusttum, Woollaston. But arguments such as these are rather futile and protests should take the positive form of constructive advice to those concerned with future overseas exhibitions. The fact is, artistically, New Zealand is practically unknown overseas and needs to send many more exhibitions and to show herself in the shop windows of the world. Salon Galleries The ground plan of the McDougall Gallery, stemming as it does from Victorian and neoclassical concepts, presents very considerable difficulties to anyone attempting to display an exhibition of this , kind. The small bays cause some r artists’ pictures to become i separated and are almost i claustrophobic when hung > with large powerful paintI ings. Such small “salon - galleries” are at their best 1 in museums built to house unchanging national collec- > tions. and may be suitable for 1 drawings, engravings and t other small works. r They are a definite disadj vantage in multi-purpose gal- ; leries wishing to show a wide 5 variety of travelling exhiibir tions.

It seem sto me that in addition to the proposed Canterbury Society of Arts building, this city will soon require another properly designed modern gallery if it is to keep the arts in step with its other developments and provide visitors (tourists) and its own residents with: a “permanent” fully representative exhibition of New Zealand art; a rich and varied diet of touring exhibitions; and a forum for local practising artists.

The present exhibition of contemporary New Zealand painting is, I feel, best viewed in the context of these remarks.

A handsome, very helpful and informative catalogue of the exhibition is available, and may be regarded as the set text for the exhibition. The decision to list the artists’ names alphabetically results in some works being rather uneasy bedfellows. The exhibition will close on Sunday. August 29. —H.J.S.