WELLINGTON ARTIST

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 147, 19 December 1933, Page 7

WELLINGTON ARTIST

SUCCESS IN LONDON

(Considerable success in poster work and portrait painting has been achieved by Mr. F. H. Coventry, son of Mr. ami Mrs. H. Coventry, of Wellington, who arrived from Sydney by tho Wanganella yesterday on a holiday visit after an absence of six years. He will spend two or three months in Now Zealand before returning to London.

Mr, Coventry arrived- in London five years ago, aud shortly afterwards he hold a. "one-man show" of engraved and etched studies, which wis well received. Borne of his posters wore for big organisations such as tho Orient liiuc, tlio "Daily Telegraph," und the Southern Railway. Ho alno devoted a good deal of his time to portraits, his commissions includiug those from the Dean of Windsor, the Hon. Mrs. Wnyley, Colonel Dalrymple, and Arthur Hurst, tho celebrated pianist.

Speaking to a "Post reporter, Mr. Coventry said ho was very i^leased to liavo got a footing in London, and when ho returned lie hoped to be able to make more rapid progress. Art in England was moving in ' a number of different directions. There was a failamount of what was ■ called . modern work in painting and sculpture. Somo of it he liked very much, but there was a good deal which was just as difficult to do as tho more conventional work, and which was not likely to lead anywhere. There was a tremendous number of artists in London. In many cases they depended upon social connections and made the most of them. The appreciation of art was as keen as ever although economic considerations restricted business. Quito a number of prosperous galleries existed in and around Bond Street.

Mr. Coventry said that ho found poster and portrait work extremely interesting. They differed very greatly, yet each was complementary to the other, and doing posters compelled the artist to tackle problems which otherwise. he. .would not notice or would shelve. •

Art in England was holding- its own, Mr. Coventry said. It was difficult to compare .it with Continental works sinco each country seemed to have an outlook and a style of its own. He had been greatly interested in comparing the varions characteristics. He believed that a few of tho ultra-modern works would endure, but there were many things that were forgotten aim<jst as soon as they were produced. Those that would last would almost certainly be, from the conventional school.

During his stay in New Zealand Mr. Coventry hopes to do some portrait work,, and generally, as he puts it, to mako his holiday as hard-working a one as possible." His present intentions are to take up his permanent residence in London, and to continue his poster and portrait painting.