Superficial art nets $20,000

Press, 13 June 1978, Page 14

Superficial art nets $20,000

Peter Mclntyre Exhibi- I tion of Paintings C.S.A. ! Gallery until June 14. Re- i viewer: Michael Thomas. Picturesque scenes of sun and shadow, Maori children,) and famous London- landmarks can be seen at the C.S.A. Gallery where Peter! Mclntyre — perhaps New) Zealand’s most popular artist — is holding an exhibi-) tion of paintings and drawings. The show, his first in) Christchurch, already has) sales of more than $20,000,) and the signs are that this is only the beginning. It is easy to see why the pictures have such popularappeal. Anyone can understand the 43 works on display. The look of the New Zealand landscape, which Peter Mclntyre catches with

i clever brushwork and mas-i [terful use of light and dark,; |is instantly recognisable. “Otago Peninsula,’’ with, ■its loosely painted, undulating rhythms demonstrates,) 'together with the broadly [handled water-colours, j iMclntyre’s style at its most) I confident and assured. Howlever, the festive “Guards'! Trumpeters’’ and the rend-) I erings of Fijian boys depicted against a plain white ) background, look formless) [and superficial. j Some of the portraits appear rather dead, as if they have been painted from photographs, and they do not have the sparkle of landscapes such as “Autumn Kakahi,” in which one can almost small the fresh dampness of the bush. Peter Mclntyre is an ac-

complished picturemaker. [ His aims seem to be to illustrate rather than inform or express, for his pictures tell us nothing we do not know already about the subject he paints, nor do they reveal anything of the man. His ) style is old-fashioned and his subject-matter con-! [ventional from the 1920 s Very smiliar paintings I from the 1920 s and) 1930 s are now on show j at the Robert McDougall Art! Gallery. As illustrations, many of I ) the works are well executed,' especially in the handling ofi the board areas of shadow I

lin the watercolours. However, Mclntyre’s considerable technical facility does not I seem to have been used to do anything except depict • the landscape in a very superficial way. The pictures have neither originality nor content; they • do not say anything new, nor • I reawaken our awareness of the conventional, pictorial ) subjects which they illustrate. Peter Mclntyre’s paintings and drawings in this exhibition might go well with the .wallpaper in the average i room, but they are of little I significance as works of art.