EMPIRE EXHIBITION

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 174, 11 April 1923, Page 3

EMPIRE EXHIBITION

ATTRACTIONS OF THE ART SECTION A STUDY IN EVOLUTION The attractions bf the British Empire Exhibition, which is to be held from April to October of next year, are described in a beautifully printed and illustrated pamphlet recently received at the office of His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner in Wellington. By way of indicating the size of the exhibition the pamphlet states that the frontage of the two buildings which will house the industrial exhibits of the United Kingdom alone would extend from Charing Cross Railway Bridge to Westminster Bridge. Hie buildings erected bv the Dominions, India, and colonies, will be on a correspondingly magnificent scale. Railway tracks will run through the main buildings so that exhibits can be conveyed direct to their place from any town or port in Great Britain without breaking hulk. The art section of the exhibition will trace the evolution of British art from the earliest times. Pictorial art and sculpture will be shown in all their stages from the first rude beginnings of pre-historic man to the greatest masterpieces Britain has produced, and, as far as their shorter history allows, engraving, etching, and lithography will be treated' in the same manner. The development of architecture will similarly be traced by photographs and models. Exhibits will be collected on loan from public galleries and private collections all over the country, and arranged in groups, according to the periods to which they belong, with representative specimens of the applied art of the time. Thus, the pictures of the Tudor period will be grouped with examples ot Tudor furniture, domestic ware and embroidery. Further, to carry out this scheme, twenty rooms will be built and furnished representing average interiors of ten periods up to the middle of the nineteenth century, and ten from the artistic Renaissance which, beginning with William Mofris and his friends, has developed untl our own day. Wherever it is possible, an actual old room will be installed with its original ceiling, panelling, and doors, and special care will be taken to make each room appear as it did when occupied by the people of its period. A range of galleries will be allotted to the overseas Dominions, which will carry out their own selection and arrangement through their national art societies.

The promoters of the exhibition hope to arrange entertainments showing the forms of music and drama practised among the races of India, Malaya, and other Eastern dependencies. There will be a special amusements park containing a circus, a mountain railway on an unparalleled scale, " a dancing hall, theatres, and _ kineniatographs. Aquatic sports will be held in one of the lakes. All the grounds will be brilliantly illuminated in the evenings, and magnificent fireworks displays will be held. Wembley Park, chosen as the site of the exhibition, is within eighteen minutes’ travel of 126 stations in the London area. It is one of the most beautiful parks in London.