BRITISH ART

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 10

BRITISH ART

A FINE COLLECTION

MR. MURRAY FULLER'S SHOW

, An unusual opportunity for art lovers to study British pictures at first hand and for patrons of art to acquire valuable specimen's is afforded by an. exhibition opened in the Art Gallery, Whitmore street, last night.; 'The pictures were collected by Mr. E. Murray Fuller, and is the second which _he has held in the Wellington Art Gallery. In the opinion of art critics it sets even a higher standard than the collection of British contemporary art shown by him in 1928. ,

There was a large and appreciative gathering at the Art Gallery last evening, when the Hon. T. S. Weston opened the exhibition. . ■ ' : • ~ ■; Mr. Weston drew attention to the outstanding features of the exhibition, and commended it warmly to the attention of purchasers and students of art. _ Mr. Fuller has been fortunate*in obtaining really vital work, providing a rich variety of oils and water colour's, which typify what nfay be described as the normal art of Britain. ' ■' . . Two of the 'most important pictures in the exhibition—the late H. H. La Thangue's oil, "Sussex Meadows —full of life, light, and gaiety—and "A Provencale Forecourt," were unfortunately dam aged through being salvaged from the wreck of the Manuka. However, although jthey have suffered, they can "be restored by experts and even in their present condition will be admired by all visitors to the gallery. "The" Golden Age," a fine study of two nude figures, by Mr. Harold Speed, RJ?.A.j and "Fountain at (Jrasse, in the South of France," by, Mr. Sidney L. Thompson, a well-known New Zealand artist, were also somewhat damaged through going down in the Manuka. Mr. Algernon Talmage, R.A., is represented by~ two masterly landscapes, of which the most important, "Blue and Gold, Pas de Calais," holds all the subtie' quietness of sand dunes and valleys rolling towards a sunlit sea.. It is soundly painted; and, like his other smaller, oil, "The Sand Pit," is fine in mass and colour arrangements Mr. S. J. Lamorna Birch, A.R.A., R.W.S., is well represented by excellent oils and water colours, notably his two important canvases, "Cottages at Penarth" and'Lamorna Woods." His work always shows a distinct personal manner, together with an instinctive sense of the beautiful in nature. Among the most attractive water colours shown by him are "Pedn-e-Vounder," "The Rule Burn," "The Ettrick," and "Lamorna Stream." Harry Watson shows his remarkable ability in his direct oil paintings made out of doors. "Finla in the Woods" is particularly successful, every inch of the canvas is original and beautiful; and his other oils— "Cypresses," "Corfe Castle," and "In the Doone Valley"—are equally/lelightful and up to his great standard, while in his small water colours he gives us one of the best lessons in the exhibition. There are some notable works by Terrick Williams, A.R.A.. There is something delightfully fresh and inspiring in his Concarneau oils, and his "A Street in Morocco" is a poem m reflected light and pearly colour. The most important oil by Terrick Williams is perhaps his "Rialto," so happy in colour finely arranged and soundly painted. Other outdoor painters of distinction, whos<works gladden the walls, are Julius Olsson, R.A., Sir Herbert Hughes-Stantdn, R.A., Sydney Thompson, E. W. Haslehust, R.8.A., Araesby Brown, R.A., Robert Allan, R.W.S., ,Moffat Lindner, R.W.S., Eleanor Hughes, Cecil Hunt, R.W.S., !W. Lee-Hankey, R.W.S., and two well-known water colour , painters—Messrs. Tatton Winter, R.8.A., and A. Heaton Cooper, R.W.A., who, niany of their admirers in Wellington will be sorry to hear, died recently in Jbugland. The collection is rich in landscapes, which, impress both as revelations of the beauty of Nature, and by their constructive skill. ' , v There are many front rank figure paintings, particularly the two groups by Harold Harvey, "The Christmas Tree" and "Pelman Patience," and the figure of a fresh young English girl, entitled "Summer." by W. E. Webster, R.P., R.O.T. Sir William Orpen, R.A., is showing an excellent tinted drawing, "The Breeze," a portrait of his small'daughter "Kit." Tlirec fine oil paintings—Mr. Terrick Williams's "Boats and Fishermen." and Mr. Lamorna Birch's "Lamorna Gates," and "Below the Sluice Gates"—have already been purchased for the Wanganui Art Gallery.