SKETCH EXHIBITION. ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 119, 23 May 1910, Page 2

SKETCH EXHIBITION. ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS.

The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts Sketch Exhibition was opened on Saturday afternoon. There are some 330 sketches in oil, water-colour, pastels, chalk and pencil. Among the most attractive studies are those in water-col-our of foliage by Mr. Van der Velden. Students should find them profitable to I study, because they teach that the faithful Tecord of impressions is to be attained only by such faithful work has ! the artist, here displays. Mr. S. J. Clouston is exhibiting life-size portraits in pastel of Mrs. G. Fowlds, Rev. J. 11. Syfces, and Mr. "Wardell (president of tha society). These are much more than sketches. As likenesses they are remarkable for their fidelity, and well deserve the prominenco given to them. Sketches by H. J. Babbage — big-brush work and lively colouring — will be /appreciated by admirers of the broad, free style and contempt for detail in painting. "The Louvro" and "The Flower Market" sketches by this artist should attract attention. Mr. Owen Merton, now in London, shows a metropolitan street scene in winter — "West Kensington Gardens" it is called. It far exceeds in merit anything else Ire shows, or did show last season. It is a work of greater value that the "St. Paul's" drawing close by, good as that is. Some drawings signed Hilda Edgar are an acquisition to tho collection. The "Old Cottage," with the heavy, pollard willows in the dark foreground, is an admirable work, and "Alice in Wonderland" (in chalk) also does 1 the artist credit. Mr. L. Richardson's portrait of "The Washerwoman" should win him many friends. „It is full of character, and is perhaps the best of all the sketches he has sent in. It is more of a picture than is "The \» altz" — a true sketch for which might grow into an important picture. The two pastel portraits of ladies will well repay careful study. Miss D. K. Richmond's "Old %Stable at Nelson" is characteristic of her freedom of method and nice appreciation of values. A. H. Bender's sketches in oil require to be seen from the middle of the room. Then their undoubted merit becomes more apparent than when seen at close range. The painting of a ship lying alongside the quay will perhaps be the most popular of the artist's sketches. Walter Leslie, H. M. Gore, H. H. Rayward, Mrs. Godden, W. H. Carter, Mr. Hood, and other equally well-known exhibitors are well represented at the exhibition, which will no doubt attract a large number of visitors during the week.