SKETCH EXHIBITION

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 120, 21 May 1920, Page 4

SKETCH EXHIBITION

SOME CREDITABLE WORK

To describe all the works which the public will see at the New Zealand Academy's Sketch Exhibition as sketches .would be s. rr.isr.omci'. Some of them are too ambitious for that, others are obviously the result oS the best that could be done, others again are finished and :'ometi7r.s3 quite important works. The Academy hac had plenty to choose from, for the 'quantity of work sent in was more tlian ordinary, . True, a- little more lirnmeis.might have been displayed:!: the rojeolior. ov ;:- fair proportion oi sketches thi'.fc are not quite up to the mark. S;:t •tiioir acceptance at least serves the purpose of comparison with, work that is 'honest, in purpose and execution. New exhibitors include Misses Adams, E. Bell, Mrs. Harvoy, and Mr. M. King. . Watercolours predominate in the media- affected aiid landscapes and seascapes with shipping are the principal subjects. Figure

:>nd portrait srcaM ere not mirnerpus. Still life subjects are not plentiful.' There are some few but quite good sketches in pencil and crayon, and a few creditable architectural drawings of workers' homes. Among the regular exhibitors there are represented Messrs. Menzies Gibb, J. M Madden, Nugent Welch, 1 W. A. Bowring, Mrs. E. K. Robison, Miss D. K. Richmond, Miss Violet Nelson, Miss Stoddart, Miss Arndt, W. Tiller, A. Bender, Miss Flora Scales, H. M. Gore. K. Killick, Mrs. Elizabeth Kelly, and G. '^edgwick.

Miss Scales has grasped the idea of •the show. She sends in oils a sketch called "Coaling," a hackneyed. subject of shipping, but treated in a most original yet truthful way, .remarkable for its warm ha'ay atmosphere and suggestion of movement. Miss Series's honest pencil studies of ducks should not be overlooked. My. Killick has invested "A :Wes.'d~f Fool" (in oils) with remarkable ■poetical interest. It is the beet thing to which his name is attached—file ethers are rather cold, some being in mon-ochroaie, ethers with a tendency 'in that - direction. A good collection oi'

drawings, mainly of seashore, by Elizabeth Kelly are remarkable for .their luminous quality^ "Holidays," showing child .ngures -on a beach,-is-a-fins example of this, painter's work. "Evening at the Estuary," by Menzies Gibb, is a Very desirable.'drawing. It is not only ciiEr-acierisiic of Mr. Gibb, but a beautiful example of treatment -of atmosphei'e, sound in composition and truthful in wtat it lias to telK Mass Eichinor.d has been painting in the couiitrv of the central mountains. Her

■ "Xg.n-ruahoe and Tcugnriro" and "Above the Bush at Ruapehu" are among ■ the best of the many fine works shown in "Wellington by Miss Richmond from time to t-ivne. Suggestions of Corot are discernible in Mr. Ssdgwick's treatment oi the trees in "Lowering Clouds" (in oils). His water colour drawings may not be so well liked as those in oils. Miss 31. o'. Stoddart is represented by a" powerful water coiour. "Franz Josef Glacier," unmistakably hors and totally lacking in "niggling" treatment. On the contr.-.ry. it is work almost masculine in strength.' "The Old Apricot Tree", by the same artist will be recognised at ouce as hers. no defmilfi is her style. "Pohara Beach" is one of the best works ever contributed by Mr. H. M. Gore, a most assiduous worker' for the Academy shows. "Stranded" and "Breakers" (oils) by W. Tiller, the former of an old greencopper bottomed hulk ashore, are in this painter's best mood, when working by the seashore among the rocks and on grey, windy days with the taste of salt in the mouth. Mr. Tiller is first and before everything else sincere, unworried by topographical accuracy. A. Bender's excellent work,,remarkable for its freedom and joyous colouring, is^ wall represented. "Landscape Covnpositioii,"- -with its highly effective treatment.of light and shade, at once arrests the eye.as one of tha best works exhibited. .M. King should create a.good iinpi'CEEion with his niiie or ten sketches, all local as to subject, but noteworthy for the conscientious drawing, sound colouring, and generally good composition.- "The Crane," a rilthar overdone shipping subject, is in-, vested by Mr. King with a new interest, i'he sun is in the eyes; but great beauty that is far easier to see than to transcribe is revealed in the sketch. A somewhat similf.r -siib"jecf is the shipping at Miramar. ,' '"Sunlight' Effect," Lyall Bay, with its -duvet- handling of the grass and scnib. in the foreground, a dip in the •hiHs is a gem. .I. M. Maddcn's "Rome," shoivinc St. Peter's in the distance, 'is very like ntliei' former works of the..s.ime

artist, in the opulent use of purples find blues. "The Estuary" is'anotherj and

ratlfer disßimikr, work in colour .and subject, but unmistakably Madden. It would be a ?rave oversight; .to pass B 0. Dobie's study of locks and water, "Wai-, kntui River,"' and "J'ohnfcuikawas." These works confer distinction on the whole exhibition. Mr. Nugent Welch has chnltgeJ, ,'md the change is all for tnis good. In "Afternoon Yellow Light,", just a- rouple of boats on the beach and tanned nets between, he hp.s 0110. of the finest examples of the handling' of atmosphere iuid {Jista.'ica hi. the" whole ■'euliettibn. His "Leicjh-on-Sea'' is a remarkably well drawn and scrupulously accurate study, of the'humidity characteristic of both the Kent and Essex sH : es of the lower Thames, where the' salt water obhiiTaf its., mastery over the; fresh. The distant sliipoinp; is admirably done. r.lr. W. A. Bo.vrin^'s versatility is ;->cnifot;d in his treatment of kind: ?':{ subifct'-, but under different conditions of ligiit. Th« "Stone Crusher.at ..Breaker Bp.y" ,'h, i:onspiQi:ous for .tlie~"b:'iglit sun li.^ht and the B.bnndancß of colour it reveal?,. "A Bull Day," painted in the sain? tacaJity, is in striking contrast, rind subtler in its treatment t>{ ' bbth rooks; water, iftid'sky." W. C:>rte:', ju'ii'r.,' is liothiric" if not- himself. He s-ache-.vs copying and, instead, jive.-, full vein to ;, his imagination. '"Tsoctaine," a

study of many lights and oily wat-er (in pui'tels),- well repays careful attention. i Thora j.? taien't .'ll this ,'md -aimc othere'sa'Sjpks'tir.'Mi''. Ca-rier's works. TnJus-tiV'irr-irs.-'xiHted with tiie name of -Mr.: Heginbofhaii!,- but 'his work' vanes in quality. His best paintings : "Twilight" and "Hilltop," simple subjects, are cari■'ably handjed. . Fine .work is to be seen in 3fr. V. Smith's "Before the Storm"; power aiso, and evidence, too, of intelligent observation. Further reference will be made to the w"cj;k;..o.f 3'tr.'.NicoJ ..and some, other ex-.. hibitors. Tlis e-xhiliition \vill be open to metn'bers only this evening; to the public frora to-niori'ow. ' ■