PROMINENT PAINTER

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 167, 11 April 1935, Page 2

PROMINENT PAINTER

New Marcus King Show “N.Z. GROUP” EXHIBITOR In about August, 1933, a certificated Wellington art teacher, Miss A. L. Davey, heard it said of several of the best New Zealand artists that “they could carpet their floors with the pictures they have not sold.” With a new idea formed iu her mind, her enthusiasm took lire among a handful of Wellington paiuters, and within a fortnight they had organised themselves into the nucleus of the co-opera-tive “New Zealand Artists’ Group,’’ with its now familiar sign outside Bowen House, Lambton Quay. Marcus King, one of the best of New Zealand land and seascape artists, we.' the first person approached by Miss Davey. His oil and water colour paintings had previously been well liked among* many, but his participation in the permanent exhibition by the "painters’ group.” in which he has played a large part, has brought the public much nearer to the point of familiarity with his work, which it well deserves. The “painters’ group” venture has steadily gained in importance, even from an all-New Zealand point of view, and its scope in giving a continuous series of exhibitions by many prominent,artists has been greatly enlarged. At present the two rooms used are filled with paintings by. Marcus King alone, and this may be said to mark the completion of a stage in the career of the venture. Marcus King paints in an individual aud particularly bold fashion, yet it is a dialect that those of widely varying tastes can quickly appreciate. His present exhibition comprises about 200 pictures, and in none of them is any greatly apparent scamping in technique. He is an artist who does not stand still, who seems to have passed his stage of experimentation, and who is fast moving ahead in his artistry. The majority of the paintings exhibited have been completed recently, aud in them is intensified Mr. King’s characteristic versatility iu his subjects. Most of the paintings are of laud and sea scenes, with an occasional figure, painted in and about Wellington city and suburbs, and northward along the coast. Wellingtonians should find a sympathetic chord struck by these typically vivid, affectionate paintings. More than this, however, must be said of Mr. King, whose object always has seemed to be to capture New Zealand's uncultivated scenery as it is in its very essence; from this point of view he is at times superb and always interesting. Those who visit this exhibition will find plenty to occupy their minds. It will be continued in its present form for some weeks.