Frieze revealed after 50 years obscurity

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32981, 29 July 1972, Page 11

Frieze revealed after 50 years obscurity

(By

W. S. BAVERSTOCK)

Finding “priceless” Old Masters in odd places may be an extremely rare occurrence in Christchurch. During my term as secretary of the Canterbury Society of Arts from 1943 to 1959, I often glanced aloft in the Armagh Street room of the old Art Gallery. I knew, as few did then and fewer do now, that hidden behind a plain cream covering, and surrounding the entire Wall of the big gallery, was a symbolic frieze designed by one of the best British artistdecorators of his day, Walter Crane.

It was, I thought, painted over with cream paint and lost for ever. Not so: it was merely obscured by 80yds of plain cream-painted fabric 3ft wide. As proof of this I now have in my possession a central strip of the frieze itself salvaged during the present work of part-demolition and remodelling of the old Art Gallery for Law Court purposes.

My strip of the frieze, 20ft long by 3ft deep, painted on jute, is by no means a valuable work of art, but it is at least a reminder of adventurous days in Christchurch. It formed a decorative part of the New Zealand International Exhibition of Arts and Industries in Hagley Park, Christchurch, 1906-7, which was indeed an adventure and

achievement of some magnitude for a small community (New Zealand’s population was only 965,457) and something never-to-be-forgotten by those of us who, as schoolboys, enjoyed its thrills. Official description James Cowan, in his official record of the New Zealand International Exhibition, published in 1910 by authority of the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, describes the frieze in considerable detail of which I will quote only a part:

"A fine decorative effect was given to the British art rooms (and to the New Zealand and Australian rooms) by a handsome frieze, which was designed and for the most part painted by Mr Walter Crane, president of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. The scheme consisted of a series of shields connected by scrolls of foliage. The Royal shield and the Prince of Wales's shield formed repeated centres, and were flanked each side, the Royal shield by the Prince’s Feathers and the Three Leopards of England, while the crosses saltire of St Andrew and of St Patrick appeared at each end; bay branches completed the decorations. In all, 15 different shields were introduced, and arranged throughout the various rooms. The same general scheme, varied in detail, especially in the designs of the foliage, was continued in the frieze throughout the galleries. It was partly stencilled an’ partly painted. Mr Cleobury assisted Mr Walter Crane in the work.”

Photographs in James Cowan’s book show the frieze in a number of the art rooms in the exhibition. The Canterbury Society of Arts, after transferring some of the frieze to its own Art Gallery during the dismantling of the international exhibition and cherishing it for some years, considered it irrelevant more than half a century ago and blotted it out. This is not surprising as the portion I have

bears the bold words "British Art Section” on a scroll set on either side of a shield containing the Union Flag surmounted by a crown in gold and flanked by symbolic foliage. Artists’ signature Adding not a little interest to my strip of salvaged frieze is that the artists have chosen it to sign with a drawing of a bird, a crane, enclosed by a finely drawn C (presumably the mark of Crane’s assistant, Cleobury) and the date of execution, 04. The two small V’s on either side of the crane may be Cleobury’s initials? In the British watercolour rooms of the international exhibition Walter Crane was represented by “Britomart” (the warrior-maid in Spenser’s “Faerie Queene”), described as “a brilliant piece of classic and symbolic painting,” and, in the history of art administration in Britain, he has a prominent place. Distinguished man Walter Crane (1845-1915), designer-craftsman, painter of mythology, illustrator of books and a follower of William Morris, has several paintings in the Victoria and Albert Museum. He helped to found the Art Workers’ Guild, became president of the Arts and Crafts Exhibitions Society and was appointed principal of the Royal College of Art at the time its diploma (A.R.C.A.), “virtually a teaching guarantee,” was instituted. Art in New Zealand owes much to the teaching and creative work of a number of artists who gained the diploma and came to this country and others who went to London to win it and returned. One of the former, of whose artistry we have lasting evidence, is Francis A. Shurrock, A.R.C.A., sculptor, who, when speaking to me recently of his days at the Royal College, said that Walter Crane was highly thought of, widely recognised and achieved distinc-

tion in an extensive range of activities. The considerable activity of this busy man, Walter Crane, for Christchurch, although expressed in a minor art form, has been hidden in total eclipse for more than half a century—until now.