ART IN WARTIME
KEEPING CULTURE ALIVE
A plea that the public should do all in their power to encourage the cultivation of art in New Zealand was made by the Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, when he opened the academy's annual exhibition last night. It was important that art should be kept alive during time of war, he added, for it was then that people turned to things beautiful to counteract the horrors that war brought.
His Excellency congratulated the academy in carrying on with, its exhibitions when its gallery haH been taken over for other purposes. He thought the exhibition a delightful collection. It showed that artists were very much alive in this artistic country, and he hoped that the public would show their appreciation of the artists' work by not leaving one picture unsold. It was natural in a country like New Zealand that artists should concentrate on landscapes; and it was good that some of the scenery that was disappearing should be recorded, but he had noticed in the exhibition a paucity of sculpture, of portraits, and interiors: more of these, he hoped, would be exhibited in future as they were of interest to posterity. The academy was an Academy of Fine Arts, not of painting only, and he would like to see other branches of art more fully represented at the exhibitions. "I have had a quiet run round the field by myself," concluded his Excellency. "Many of the pictures I like and, although my opinion in these matters may not be worth much, I can truthfully say that there are none I dislike, and I have the greatest pleasure in declaring the exhibition open."
Mr. G. G. G. Watson, the academy's president, introduced the GovernorGeneral. He said that the academy had nothing to be ashamed ®f in the present exhibition; just the reverse, when one considered the number of artists engaged directly or indirectly on war work. It certainly behoved New Zealand, a country spared the ravages of wax1, to do all it could to foster art and maintain culture when elsewhere it was being trampled in the mire.
A large crowd was present at the opening, and after the speeches the pictures came in for critical inspection.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19431009.2.84
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 87, 9 October 1943, Page 8
Word Count
372ART IN WARTIME Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 87, 9 October 1943, Page 8
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