REJECTED PICTURES

Evening Post, Issue 86, 8 October 1936, Page 11

REJECTED PICTURES

ACADEMY EXHIBITIONS

Reference was made by the president,' Mr.'D.AVEwen, at last night's annual general meeting of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts to the question ol pictures rejected by the hanging committee of the council at the Academy's exhibitions.

"There has been a certain amount of dissatisfaction, expressed by some, I believe, with the selection, or rather the rejection, of pictures sent in for exhibition," he said. "We all sympathise with those aspirants for hanging who are disappointed, but I wish to assure you that the selection committee spends a great deal of time and gives a .great deal of consideration to the pictures sent in for exhibition. There will always be differences of opinion as to the merits of a work. Speaking as one who is a lover of art, and who has "always endeavoured to learn from others in New Zealand and in Great Britain, I can only say that artists themselves quite frequently disagree in this respect as well as laymen.

"However, the council and committee do their utmost to be just, and they give freely of their time and their experience, remembering always that the Academy is an educational body and must endeavour to sustain a certain standard."

; Later in the meeting Mr. J. A. Heginbotham moved that it be a recommendation to the incoming council that a "salon de refuses" be instituted in connection with the exhibition, and also that artists be allowed to have their rejected pictures back again at once and not have to wait until the close of the exhibition.

Mr. E. D. Gore, the secretary, explained that the reason why rejected pictures could not be taken away at once was because of the endless work involved in packing and sorting, which work there was no one to do.

The meeting did not endorse the recommendation about holding a "salon de refuses," but it did endorse that respecting the removal of rejected pictures before' the close of the exhibition.