VERSATILE ARTIST

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 4, 4 July 1940, Page 17

VERSATILE ARTIST

THE LATE MRS. M. E. R. TRIPE

At the time of her death the late Mrs. M. E. R. Tripe had in her studio quite a number of her paintings which had never been exhibited. They were the nucleus of a on>2-man show which she planned, but death meantime intervened. These pictures, however, have been framed and, with several others which have previously been exhibited, are now all hung together in the Academy's section of the National Art Gallery. Numbering about 100, these paintings are fully representative of the artist's virile work. They include quite a number of portraits, several figure studies, and numerous landscapes.

The late Mrs. Tripe, who held a very high place in the annals of New Zealand art, did much of her painting on the Continent. All her landscape work is direct and expressive, and her portraits reveal a keen insight into character. -Very marked, too, was the versatility she displayed.

A private view of the exhibition was opened last night by Mr. G. G. G. Watson, president of the Academy. He referred to the artist's success both in and beyond New Zealand as an exhibitor at the Royal Academy and in Paris. In Wellington she had been connected with the teaching of art in the old ■ Technical School in Wakefleld Street, and her name would long be remembered for her wide interest in the cause of art.

"The Golden Scarf," a portrait valued at 30 guineas, it was announced, would be disposed of by an art union for the benefit of the Red Cross funds. "The Road to Arthur's Pass" was purchased by the Academy for the national collection.' /