OTAGO ART SOCIETY’S EXHIBITION.

Evening Star, Issue 6759, 26 November 1884, Page 2

OTAGO ART SOCIETY’S EXHIBITION.

Fooeth Notxob.

On the wall Is a-small bird piece by W, Smaill (No. 61, " The Tnis "), very carefully painted. Close to it is a picture (No. 63, “ South Water ”) by Alfred A. Purchase, in which the effect of sunlight oa a coastal sea is rendered with miioh success. Mr Pur* chases method of treatings a subject is unlike that of any other member of the.; Society, but ,it Is quite as satisfactory in its way; the rooks with their strong shadows, and the sea appear to ‘ be drawn with great fidelity. Mr Monltsay’a "Gathering Brackens, Strathyre" (No. 41) ought not to be passed over without notice. It is, we think, the best of , his smaller contributions. Under a soft, ten-derly-painted grey'skyare a couple of:lassies seated on a hillside, apparently resting from their labor. ' The foregrbund is painted with the artist’s well-known finish, while a small lake gives charm to the distance of the picture. Mr E. A. Gifford sends a sketch of a morning effect on the sands near St. Clair (No. 92, ‘' Reminiscences of the Ocean Beach”). There is very little work apparently in this picture, but what there is is of the very best. We have rarely seen so pleasing a subject wrought out of such scanty material, the soft, morning haze on the beach, the small but exquisitelydrawn figures enjoying their morning canter, and the aerial effect generally being very successful. Dr Scott’s work this year iß| m usual, of a most thorough kind. He evidently spares no pains to give a faithful' exposition of his sublet, and he has the additional quality.of being able to make-a Eictnre out of what many others Would pass yas devoid of interest. His "Broaaieaf Stem” (No. 124) is a good example <ff what may be done in this way. An old tree standing. in a sunlit glade, with riven bark, round which a supplejack clings, all drawn and painted with great care, has afforded him an opportunity for mttkitag a really good picture; - He has also a couple of small sketches, one “A View on the Pine Hill road ” (No. 140), the other "Sealers’ Hut, Macquarie Island” (No. 138). Both of these a>e so badly placed for light that their work; which is. quite »equal to the picture already noticed, cannot be properly seen or appreciated. In ooneludlng oiir notice of the pictures exhibited this year by the members, while we arc aware that the Society is composed for the most part of amateurs, whose work is as a rule hardly to be judged by the same standard as that which usually governs the opinion _ when speaking of the productions of professionals, and who probably only give their leisure time to the pursuit of this delightful occupation, we think the time has come when the Society should add to its career of usefulness by encouraging the introduction of works more in the nature of decoration and design, as applicable to objects of use and ornament in daily demand. If the Society, for instance, were to add to its list of annual prizes one for excellence in this branch, and if a few of our public institutions, such as the Manufacturers’ Association and the Chamber of Commerce, were to do the like, we feel sure the result would be to bring forward a great deal of latent talent of this kind. The finest column in Boslyn Chapel was the work of a prentice; the artistic ironwork of the fifteenth century, the admiration and model of the present time, was produced by the blacksmith Quintin Matays; and though we may not hope to rival such productions as these in so young a country as ours, we see no reason why the breath of artistio life should not bo blown into the clay so ready to our hands, so that in time to come New Zealand may, like other countries, have its thousands of trained artificers and educated workmen competent and ready to execute most of the work which now requires to be imported. With these few suggestions we wish the Society farewell for another year.