THE ROLE OF ART

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 90, 12 October 1940, Page 13

THE ROLE OF ART

IN TROUBLED TIMES

ACADEMY EXHIBITION

OFFICIAL OPENING

There was the usual large crowd at last evening's opening of the annual exhibition of the New Zealand Academy, of Fine Arts. Mr. G. G. Gibbes Watson presided and 'remarked that, ■while there might not be any very outstanding work, all would agree that the general standard was high. It was their duty, he added, to help New Zealand artists to maintain their standard of work so that culture, which was being threatened in other parts of' the. world, might be preserved.

..Mr. Watson extended a special welcome to Sir Harry and Lady Batterbee. Sir Harry, he said, besides being a lover of art, was a link with.London, :with the people of Britain's capital city who were undergoing such perils §it the present time. Their thanks were also due to him for the loan of photographs of work executed by official war. artists at Howe, a collection of extraordinary interest.

' Sir Harry Batterbee, who declared the exhibition open, said that all his life .he had been a lover of art and of painting, arid for many years he had" been a collector "of prints." Painting, was one of the oldest of mankind's %'ays of expressing himself, and was .a perfect. and beautiful method xor sftch expression. Wherever he went my- New Zealand he made a point of visiting galleries and art schools, and was delighted to find that so much inIter'est was taken in them. If art was ~t& be vital and alive it needed competition, hence the value of such exhibitions as ' the Academy's. He was glad, top, to see that New Zealand artists were following in the footsteps -of '■ the. great English artists and turning'their attention to landscapes, for "landscape painting was the great glory xii / English art, although, of' course, ■there were also great portrait painters. -He would' ■ congratulate also the school of portrait painters. ""In times such as these, he concluded, is was well to turn for a time to art, to painting or literature. No one could tell how much closer to this happy land would come the tide of t war, but that was certainly no reason -for ceasing, the cultivation of art— rather the reverse. -They were fighting, for cultural values, for- the right ~6i ihe individual to enjoy in his own way the pleasures and.-arts of peace. .In, totalitarian countries art was stifled, and only that was allowed which glorified violence- and war.

-;-.-Referring to the photographs of-the British war artists' work, Sir. Harry J3atterbee said they were well worth a -special visit and detailed study.- The pictures included scenes: of the miracle -of the evacuation of • Dunkirk, which would ever remain a glorious page in England's history. :: : ■. - .

- After:the result of the members' aft union had been-declared, those present examined the pictures at their leisure, and before the evening closed with supper a number of- sales had been recorded.