Buying “The Bather” For McDougall Gallery

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30934, 15 December 1965, Page 22

Buying “The Bather” For McDougall Gallery

“The Bather,” a bronze sculpted figure of a young woman by a leading Italian sculptor, Marcello Mascherini, will be bought for the Robert McDougall Art Gallery by the Christchurch City Council.

The cost is 3.5 million lira—about £2OOO —which is a record amount for a work of art for the gallery. As a major work of art “The Bath*” qualifies for a subsidy of up to 50 per cent of its cost from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council. “We’ve got a good chance of getting the 50 per cent subsidy as this is the first time that the city council has asked tor one,” said Cr. P. J. Skeilerup, chairman of the subcommittee appointed to discuss the subsidy and empowered to buy the sculpture last evening. The subcommittee consists of Crs. A. R. Guthrey, N. G. Pickering, H. P. Smith, and the direct* of the gallery (Mr W. S. Baverstick).* “The Bath*” is one of two sculptures selected for possible purchase from the gallery from the touring Contemporary Italian Sculpture exhibition which ended in Christehurch on Sunday and is now in Dunedin. The other work considered,

* head of a young woman by the Italian master, Giacomo Manzu, priced at £2.5 million lira (about £1450), was shown to the city council on Monday evening as the first choice, but yesterday it was found to be not for sale. “A Good Buy" Mr E. J. Doudney, senior lecturer, in sculpture at the University of Canterbury, said yesterday that “The Bather” was a very good buy. “It is a work by a sculptor with a world-wide reputation and could not be beaten for individuality or interest,” he said. “The Bather," described as a fragment, was completed in 1960. It is a work of Mascherini’s mature period, the last 15 years, in which his output is said to combine a monumental quality with sensuous naturalism. Cr. Skeilerup urged the City Council to buy the sculpture on Monday evening. “We will be doing something worth while to build up a collection that will be more provocative and more interesting than we have," he said. Cr. Pickering: Like the Van der Veldens? The Mayor (Mr Manning): Have we got the money? Cr. Skeilerup: Yes, there is just over £4OOO in the purchase fund.

The purpose of the art gal* lery was to show a wide range of art in all phases, Cr. Guthrey told the council. The gallery had been criticised for not having anything of international interest and the council now had the chance of acquiring a sculpture in world class.