ACADEMY OPENS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 79, 30 September 1938, Page 7

ACADEMY OPENS

ANNUAL EXHIBITION

JUBILEE OCCASION

This year's annual exhibition of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, which is to be opened this evening in the National Art Gallery by. his Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Galway, is an important event i in the history of art in the city. It is the fiftieth such annual exhibition, and special efforts have been made to make it an outstanding one. To a cer- . tain measure these efforts have met with success, and the exhibition will be found thoroughly representative and interesting. »" Had it been practicable, it would have been both interesting and instructive to display at the same time some of the paintings which were exhibited at the first annual exhibition, enabling comparisons to be made between the art of 50 years ago and that of the present time. But although the catalogue of the first exhibition is extant, the pictures which were shown are now scattered far and wide, and probably, a fair number of them no longer exist. Although the . present is the fiftieth annual exhibition held by the Academy, the first was actually held in March, 1883. "The Post" on that occasion did not give it more than a brief paragraph. "We have^, just been gratified," it said, "by a view of the paintings "now exhibited at the Museum by the Society of Arts. It is at all times a somewhat invidious task to single out individual pictures for special criticism, but in-, this instance, as being in a great measure an effort among amateur members to try their strength or promise for a more important occasion, we need not enter into detailed notices. We would, however, urge upon all young aspirants some attention to the works of more accomplished artists. It is by immediate comparisons that instruction can be obtained, .and Mr. Beetham in his particular department, Messrs. Barraud, Silk, Muntz, Geisler, and Camp'bell, in landscape, afford very good examples on which learners may form an original style, each to his own liking. It is to be hoped that this infant society will steadily persevere in laudable efforts to further the cause of legitimate art development, and it has our best wishes for its success and prosperity." That the "infant society" has steadily persevered in its "laudable efforts to further the cause of legitimate artdevelopment," and has met with success, in spite of having, at times at any rate, a difficult row to hoe, is obvious to anyone who has followed the history of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. For years, with its inadequate gallery in Whitmore Street, it, and it practically solely, catered for art in Wellington. Then, a few years ago, with the building of the magnificent block of. buildings of the National Art Gallery and Dominon Museum, the Academy may be said to have come into its own. Adequately housed, with galleries second to none in the Southern Hemisphere,. -the Academy is now in a position to further in. full measure "the cause of legitimate art-development." y/' 'PICTURES IN-. VARIETY, ReyeiS;ing.-to ,this year's annual exhibitEoriy'itCmay be remarked "that it is a 'just as "invidious a task" now as it Avas in 1883 "to single out individual pictures for criticism." There used to. be certain accepted canons of art to which all self-respecting artists were supposed to conform. But these are rapidly being jettisoned, and an artist is now granted such latitude for expression that the critic cannot do much more than express personal likes and dislikes. No - doubt there will be general agreement about a number of the pictures hung in the present.. exhibition, but about others there, will be disagreement. Such, differences of opinion, however, add zest to a visit to the exhibition. The exhibition as a whole follows the''lines of previous exhibitions, except that an improvement in the hanging, has been achieved by grouping the pictures into panels. The exhibition is not particularly strong in portraiture, although there are-two or three outstanding examples, one of which was exhibited at the Royal Academy and "also received a Paris Salon silver medal. There are more landscapes in water-colours than in oils, many-of these being excellent with-out-being outstanding. Comparatively few still life studies have been submitted or accepted, and there is not the-usual plethora of zinnias, marigolds, and anemones. The usual artists, with about two notable exceptions, are exhibiting, but there is,an unfortunate lack of really promising work from the younger painters. This does not augur too well for the future, since the Academy's future depends not on those who have made it in th'o past, but on those younger members who will be able to shoulder the burden when it is laid down by the elder ones. There is nothing in the exhibition alcn? the lines of what might be called a 'problem picture," but there is more lhan usual (and some may be of the opinion that there is too much) of modern or ultra-modern work. In a later notice, when more detailed mention is made of the individual pictures, attention may be called to some of this. In the meantime it is sufficient to say that a few promising New Zealand artists seem rather too prone to abandon orthodoxy and to "go modern," without having I any clear idea of what they are aiming | at and entirely disregarding the fact j that the successful modernist has schooled himself thoroughly in the fundamentals of his art before experimenting. These would-be moderns, their imaginations fired by some reproduction which they have seen, become mere copyists, and bad ones at that. However, if it takes all sorts to make an exhibition a success, the present annual exhibition, especially owing to its jubilee nature, should be a success from all points of view. It will be open to the public from Saturday onwards. From a powder-like clay known as bentonite comes a new transparent wrapping-film which is fireproof and highly resistent to water, acid, alkali, and oils.