Change In Policy By Academy

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32010, 10 June 1969, Page 12

Change In Policy By Academy

The New Zealand Academy, of Fine Arts was planning a change of policy to attract back into the fold local art-'I ists of considerable reputa-j tion and standing, the presi-' i dent of the academy (Mr R ■ i J. Waghorn) said in Dunedin, i Severe criticism had been levelled at the academy by 11 people who considered that it ■i should widen its horizons to • include contemporary artists, i he said. “The academy is aware , that in the past it has adhered to a pattern of exhi- : bitions which in part ac- . counted for the loss of more advanced artists, but we are <

planning to change this,” Mr Waghom said. In the past more advanced artists had moved out of the academy as they were building reputations and preferred one-man shows to shows in company with artists with similar reputations. He quoted as an example of the modernised image of the academy a five-man exhibition to be opened in the academy’s gallery in the National Art Gallery in Wellington on July 2. “The artists, Ralph Hotere, Don Peebles, Melvin Day. John Drawbridge and Pat Henley, have chosen their own works,” he said.