INTERNATIONAL ART

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 47, 24 August 1939, Page 6

INTERNATIONAL ART

FINE COLLECTION

CENTENNIAL DfSPLAY

[ The latest reports regarding the in- | ternational art collection which Mrs. Murray Fuller is bringing to Wellingi ton to be exhibited by the trustees of the National Art Gallery during' thej Centennial period indicate that it will one of the- finest and most comprehensive collections, ever sent to, .NewJ Zealand. There .are: in all 568 works of j art from Great ■. Britain, . France, and! Belgium, mostly by living painters, but' including a few works by deceased) artists. Most of the pictures will be for sale, but there will be a number of special loan pictures which will add greatly .to the interest and importance of the exhibition. About fifty by French and Belgian artists have been selected. Mrs. Fuller states that they are a fine collection, the works of the Belgian artists being very beautiful indeed and quite as good as the French though not so well known. Owing to the serioiisness of the international situation last April it was very doubtful then whether it would be possible to receive these pictures. : The trustees of the Tate Gallery, Milbank, have agreed to lend seven imiportant works from their collection. It is only since 1936 that, by special Act of Parliament, pictures from the National and Tate Galleries have been allowed to leave England on loan. The generous action of the trustees in this connection is fully appreciated. Another interesting loan picture is Frank Salisbury's large oil painting of the coronation of their Majesties, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. This has been kindly lent by his .Majesty the King, and is now to come to New Zealand from the New York World Fair. Pictures from the Tate Gallery are: —"Lady in Furs" (oil), by Sir William Nicholson; "Portrait of Dame Madge Kendal" (oil) and "The Model" (water colour), by Sir William Orpen; "Mr. Minney" (oil), by Sir. W. W: Russell; "Rachel" (oil), by Augustus John; "The Red House" (oil), by Stanley Spencer; and "Oil Woman" (oil), by the late Mark Gertler. A group of water-colours and oils by the late John Singer Sargent, lent by the artist's sister, will be another outstanding exhibit. It is the first time that a group of this artist's work has been allowed to leave England. The exhibition will be open at the National Art Gallery, Wellington, from early in November until the end of April, and will provide for the public of Wellington and for visitors a wonderful representative display of presentday art. In addition to the international collection two other important exhibitions will be held at the National Art Gallery; the annual exhibition of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts from November to the end of January; and the loan Retrospective Exhibition of New Zealand Art opening early in February- Arrangements for these two exhibitions are now well advanced.