OTAGO ART SOCIETY.

Evening Star, Issue 13102, 7 November 1908, Page 6

OTAGO ART SOCIETY.

The thirty-second annual exhibition of the Otago Art .Society is to be opened by Mr G. Joachim, the president, on Monday. In the absence of Dr Scott, the secretary’s duties at the gallery this year are being undertaken by Mr J. Mlndcc, the hon. treasurer. He has the satisfaction of seeing the hanging completed promptly. In fact, everything was ready this morning, as our representative found when admitted for a private view of the many interesting works that have been placed at the disposal of the society. One very pleasing fact about the exhibition is that it is in the society’s own halls, which provide plenty of space and a suitable light. It is also but tair to mention that the Hanging Committee—Mcsdames Woodhouse, Reynolds, and MTndoe, and Messrs W. A. Bollard, A. Fisher, J. Mlndoe, and Dr Roberts —have shown a deal of wisdom in their placing of the pictures so as to do the exhibitors justice and avoid offensive contrasts. The hall nearest the entrance is devoted to paintings in oil, numbering 248. These include a few singularly interesting works by Alfred East and David Murray, two of the foremost English landscape artists, also a fine example of Camillo Vcrno’s skill, some charming pictures by W. Hounson Byles, a collection of wonderfully-painted Maori heads by C. F. Goldie, some of the most natural landscapes ever turned out by C. H. Howorih, and worthy specimens of the skill of R. Proctor, Sydney Thompson. Miss Hartley, A. H. O’Keeffe, W. Allen Bollaid, \V. Mcnzies Gibb, J. M. Madden, F. B. Frey.burg, Horace Moore Jones, and others. The water colors, 205 in number, are quite equal to the average, the contributors including Miss Richmond (Wellington), C. N. Worsley (Napier), Edmond Atkinson (Wellington), Albert Hanson (Sydney), Julian Ashton (Sydney), and Mabel Hill, the last-mentioned artist being the producer of the largest of the landscapes. There are also sixty-seven exhibits from the Dunedin Photographic Society, as well as examples of copper work, sculpture, and bookbinding. Lost, but not least, there are thirty-seven pictures in the competition sections, these being for the first time grouped and placed themselves on the platform wall. The total entry is 533. This indicates that the gallery is representative in character, and it may be added that the quality is conspicuously good, there being but a small percentage of exhibits that do not come up to the standard. The competition work has been judged, and wo understand that Mr Joachim will announce the results in his opening address.