CANADIAN ART

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 142, 12 March 1938, Page 13

CANADIAN ART

Provocative Paintings At National Gallery EXHIBITION OPENED The main gallery of the National Art Gallery was full of life and colour last evening ou the occasion of the opening of the exhibition of Canadian art sent to New Zealand through the courtesy of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Canadian Art Gallery of Ottawa. This collection of modern Canadian paintings was originally sent to the exhibition at Johannesburg'last year, since when it has been shown in Australia. Now New Zealand gets its turn. Although some first impressions might lead one into errors of judgment, it is for everyone to form their own impressions~of this bighly-provocative collection of oil paintings. There is something startlingly new, bold, and perhaps “raw” in these paintings, but what the observer has to bear in mind is that they are the reflection of a vast country of illimitable natural resources, in which a majority of the people live close to practically undisturbed Nature. They present in a very vivid sense a “cross section of Canada,” from the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to British Columbia, from the plains round AVinnipeg to the trackless Arctic wastes that extend far northward.

A welcome was accorded to the many present by the mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, with a special one to Mr. W. F. Bull, the Canadian Trade Commissioner, who came from Auckland specially to open the exhibition. The mayor explained that the trustees were enabled to present the pictures through the Carnegie Corporation and the Canadian Art Gallery. The Carnegie Corporation had done much to advance culture in the world by the assistance it had afforded to libraries, ! to art in various forms, and to scientific development. The trustees were indebted to the corporation for tlie collection of facsimiles of ancient and modern masterpieces which were now being exhibited in New Zealand, and would later return to their permanent home in the National Art Gal lery: and now it had sponsored tire present collection. He was sure that they would all appreciate the , spirit in which the pictures were being sent round the British Empire, for the broadening influence such displays exerted. The first in AVellington was the British collection; then they had one from Australia, and now there was one from Canada. The effect of such exhibitions was to stimulate and build up an appreciation of art in its broadest sense, so that perhaps later New Zealand might reciprocate by sending, out the.work of her artists. V Air. Bull said tlult when lie received the invitation to open the exhibition lie thought lie would have to develop something serious and send his regrets, but wlieu he.feaiv the. names of so many of liis old friends among the artists lie had changed his mind. In> the first place, he wished to say how. well the pictures bad been hung in this beautiful gallery. Though they had been exhibited in South Africa 1 and Australia, he was quite sure that they had never been seen to better advantage. Tlie pictures were an attempt on the part of a widespread group of artists to express something of the spirit of Canada. Environment influenced everyone, and the varying conditions of life and nature in Canada had contributed to the development of a distinctive school of painting. Many might think that some of the paintings were too brightly coloured, but he assured those present that such was not the case. Those who had’seen the maples turn gold and red in the autumn against a background of evergreens would never think that the tones used were too bright or too definite.

Canada was a young country, yet prior to 25 years ago her artists had gone to New York, to England, and Europe to study art, and many of them had stayed in London and in Paris to work. In a measure some lost their identity, being absorbed by the schools of painting to which they attached themselves; but a few returned to Canada and laid the foundations of a purely Canadian school of art. The result was before them, and Mr. Bull said he hoped they would enjoy it. He had much pleasure in declaring the exhibition open. The rest of the evening was spent in an inspection of the_coilectlon, and in the free interchange of opinion upon the unusual subjects presented, and the manner in which the artists responsible had gained their effects.