PICTORIAL ART

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 117, 14 November 1930, Page 13

PICTORIAL ART

THREE DIMENSIONS

An interesting evening was spent at the Art Gallery last week by members of the University Women's Club and their friends, when Mr. Nelson Isaac gave a talk on art, with special reference to some of the pictures in the permanent collection. The speaker traced the growth and development of pictorial art from the time of the Egyptians who could only represent in two dimensions, to the Italians of whom Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci first began to represent the third dimension, and then he spoke of modern English painters. He gave instances of the requisite qualities for a good picture— .it must have pattern, it must have balance, its colours must be satisfying, it must show that it is a conception of the painter and was inspired from within, from this own brain. He instanced as one of the best pictures in the collection, one which satisfied all these requisites, "The Death of the Year," by Charles Sims, IJ. A. Another picture which was a marvellous conception and showed good balance was Clausen's "Man With a Pitchfork"; the way the paint was put on in small pieces brought out the fact that the subjects were painted with I their backs to the light. Another wcllconceived picture was "Autumn," by

Browne, which showed groat skill in perspective. The speaker also pointed out special qualities in the pictures of Van der Vclden, of Sydney Thompson, the artist who first made so great a use of colour, of Brangwyn, of Nugent Welsh, and many other artists. Ho! showed the importance of an artist knowing what to leave out in his picture, and illustrated this by referring to one or tw,o pictures in the gallery which had too great a wealth of detail. The proper place for one large picture, he thought, was the Museum. The president of. the club, Mrs. Somerville, thanked Mr. Isaac for his interesting address, and this was heartily endorsed by the audience. Supper and conversation brought the evening to a close.