The Art Show.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 15, 12 October 1907, Page 6

The Art Show.

I' NEW ZEAL ANDERS IN OIL AND WATER COLOURS. AN INTEE.ESTING EXHIBITION. (By Palette.) Tho annual show of tho New Zealand Acadomy of .Fine Arts is to beopened by . His Excellency tho Governor this afternoon. I walkod into tho little brick building in Ballance Street, past the notico, "Directors Only Admitted," and took in, , without the aid of a catalogue, a brief survey of tho representative brush-work of the year. A. twenty minutes' stroll was sufficient to convince me that the show, viewed/as one of Now Zealand work, was a long stride ahead of any show I have seen in Wellington. This as to quality. It is also good to see every scrap of wall-space taken up with work' really commendable in its general average, and excellent in several instances, while those crudities that one usually has to pass by were actually missing -from my brief inspection. , Tho place of honour on the hno at i _ the head, of the room is occupicd by a Bowring portrait of -Mr ' Justice' Denniston — in a gentle mood. The mood, has evidently smoothed; away a degree of His Honour's judicial face, and were it not for this explanation,. I ,would say that His Honour must have given tho sittings ten years ago. Yet it is a good portrait of much artistic finish. On either sido of His Honour are a couple of paintings by C. H. Howorth '"an , artist who nas come on rapidly, and, whoso: present work is really admirable. Ono is a Whakarewarowa scene, and the other looks like a bit of Rotorua. ;-There is a touch of tho show picture about the " Whaka" canvas, as all the geysers • seemed to have been soaped, in 'order to give the' artist an improssiyo sitting. Still ho lias .caught tho difficult' colouring of the thermal country very well indeed. Where Mr. Howorth really, excels is in ,his green bush and water scenes. Thero is a refreshing water colour of . his in the south-west corner, in which he runs the whole gamut of the colour, blended, sweetly in an harmonious little 'buststream scene, : with somo cattlo in the crossing. Another of his is on,tho other side among the water colours, a study in pale greons, depicting sovoral sturdy old' lichen-covered' tree trunks,' with the new growth springing up with tho vigour of youth. A pretentious sca-scapo.by tho same artist' hangs 'on;, tho west • frowning, spumesiyept.coast,..,ip_- the middlo distance, & n A, 'he foreground filled with a curling breaker on tho shoro. -.Tho picturo is admirably drawn, has distance and extent in good proportion,-and altogether is a 1 well-conceived soa-scapo : stronulv executed.

. The oyo-catcHing picture on the : west' wail is ; a largo glowing banvas, with light piled in so strong as to suggest illuminated, paint. It is called, I. believe, " The Pioneer's Story." It is by S. L. .Thompson, and represents an old -man with a fine rugged beard, and a lifctlb ' girl, sitting niidway between the■ fierce.red gl6w of a firo and a lamp. The [glow is overdone slightly, hut the figures are woll 'done. J. M. Madden lias a number of canvases on show, done in his usual good style. IBs .cattle on- the coast picturo, reaches-a high level of artistic strength.' Mr. Christmas's "Milford Sound" is not one of his best efforts with a wellworn subject. His sunlight tints on the cliffs are too prettily deep-toned, there is no detail to speak of except' the little toy steamer tho picturo -could have well' dispensed with. The same artist's Australian scene over tho entrance, is much better—there is breadth' and atmosphere, and more care has been bestowed on the work.

Sir. Jas.; F. ;Scott' has a . sketchy landscape, nice bright foreground, and water, but the back hills are a little painty, even at the right distance. Among the water-colours is a good •study portrait by Mr! Bowring of Mr. A. Hamilton (of the Colonial Museum), jji working garb,'in the' act of examining a greon butterfly—distinctly good work. Mr. Worsley takes us up a couple of narrow 1 Spanish; piazzas, baking in white heat, with' languid figures to relieve the' dead monotony of the clay:walls; I liked tlio one with the-clever dot of blue distance away : beyond a cool arch. ' 'Miss Sybil Johnson has 1 two fantastic studies' of her charming sex, which need a catalogue explanation: The chubby children, r, painted by. Edith Bendall, are always delightful and .hor decorative littlo ones in,this year's list are distinctly good. Returning to the oils, mention should be inado of a maiden, whose lower half is impersonating a fire-fly) or something of tljb. sort, and great attention-has been given to the ; spots'of green sheen on the. wings crossed in front. The face needs, idealising, and the whole thing is too near, .too abrupt. Mn Jas. , Scott has a couplo of portraits that win approval.. Bowring has a clever phantasy, which might be called the mermaid's Elysium—a hot sun shining dully through a mist and. pinking everything, the wavelets of tho sea, tho rocks that intervene, and tho giant mermaid forms that bask elf-like in the glow. Thero are evidences of a strong brush and a, pretty. talent for colour in-|E... Proctor's Spanish fruit mart— an old subject nicoly but conventionally treated. • - . Hounsom Byles, R.8.A., has ia couple of: nudbi!, and i an incOfisefjucntial girl at a mii Tor—his "form" is good. Geo. R. Pitkethly, 6f the Wellington Technical School, has a green soashoro with .fishing smacks drawn ■ up on the beach, and cultivated hills in tho .distance. ' ■■ Thero aro two or three bits of sculpture monopolising podestals, the best of which is a bronze caste of Mr. J. P. Luke, of. Wellington, truer to lifo in profile'than otherwise. In tho black and whito section there is a nico crayon drawing of a young lady—head and shoulders —and iL few' clover jokelcts by Mr. L. H. Booth. A case near by contains some delicato treasures representing the new art, china painting, all by Miss E. Baird-Luxton, of Christchnrch. Tho most dainty designs and colours can bo used' in tho work, which should attract somo of bur artistically-inclined girls. ' .' Tho pictures mentioned aro but a fow of those tliat decorate the walls of tho Gallory, wliich will bo a pleasant and profitable place to visit with a catalogue and a few pounds.