DUNEDIN ART GALLERY

Evening Star, Issue 17037, 7 May 1919, Page 2

DUNEDIN ART GALLERY

'-MKIMI,MEETING'OF THE SOCIETY. '.:.■• *Tk» annual meeting of the Dunedin fnblia Art Gallery Society, held last night-, vaa in the fo™ °* a social party. Mr ■'JL Bathgate, the president, received at the entrance, having the pleasure of shaking hands ;with about twice as many persons ;*s there are on the membership roll; and aa further conversions into "the evening" farm of meeting the trustees engaged Mr «L Flint's orchestra, and had the interior choicely decorated with foliage. In his introductory remarks the President said that the changes indicated were made in the hope of inducing a larger attendance than usual, and thus bringing to the notice of citizens the work carried on from year to year. The business would be taken first. • The Treasurer (Mr J. Loudon) presented the balance-sheet. He out that on the assets side they had buildings which cost approximately £6,000, but which today were worth very much more. They had pictures valued "at a very low conservative estimate at £4,730, and tho assets in all came to nearly £12,000. The surplus of assets over liabilities was ■between £9,000 and £IO,OOO. The debentures wbm the hall was handed over amounted to some £4.800, but £3,550 of that sum had been donated by generous well-wishers of the society or had been ledeemed by the society. Those present ■would agree that the position was highly satisfactory. He knew further that quite & number of the present debenture holders had made up their minds later on to donate them to the society. The total fervenue from all sources last vear amounted to £932 17b Bd. They paid £sl 7s 6o in rate*. While extremely grateful to the (Sty Council for help on various occasions, they were of opinion that it would be a generous thing if the City Council made the gallery free of rates altogether. The gallery was quite a civic institution, just as the Public Library was. He was pleased to sea the Mayor-elect present, and hoped that he would be able to meet their wishes in the matter. The actual surplus for the year was £145 Is 2d. The aim of the trustees had been to have a sufficient surElus at the end of each year to add at ast one good picture. Recently they had not been able to do that, owing to the war. _ The rents from the letting of the hall, in pre-war times amounted to something like £3BO. During the war period they fell to £IBO, but now it was anticipated that the revenue would go back to something like that of pre-war times. The- secretary (Mr E. S. Wilson) read the report, which appeared in the 'Evening Star* last night. The President, in moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, gave a brief history of the Public Art Gallery. It originated with a demand in the newspapers for the retention of some of the paintings by British artists that wejfe sent from the Old Country to the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition of 1889-90. A few gentlemen interested in the matter convened a public meeting, and the matter was taken up with considerable 'enthusiasm, especially by a band of ladies. As a result sufficient money was raised for the purchase of the picture ' Sunny Hours,' by Waierlow, and half a dozen others, including ' Preparations for Market,' by Stanhope Forbes—a picture which had sin£» increased three or fourfold in value, -it first the pictures were housed in a dingy room in the corporation buildings, but local artists raised a fund with which an iron shed was erected for them at the Museum, where they were housed for several years. Then Lady M'Lean was able to get from the Government a lease of the land on which their buildings now stood at a peppercorn rent, and steps were taken to erect the buildings. The money was raised partly by subscription, bat mainly by debentures. The security to the debenture holders was by no means of the gilt-edged character, for payment of the | interest was wholly dependent on the let- | ■tings; but the venture proved a success, and the debenture debt had been reduced j to reasonable limits. During the war the revenue fell off, and they had to get an overdraft, which was guaranteed personally. These times had tortunately passed. From the modest beginnings he had referred to the gallery had grown to a good collection. Several citizens had given pictures. The trustees would have liked to purchase more than they had, but their first duty was to reduce the debt. Thanks were due to the citizens who had given pictures, and also to Mr James Begg, who had presented a charming little bust, ' Devotion,' which was the only piece of statuary the trustees had acquired. Thero were in the gallery casts of the late King JMward and of Queen Alexandra, but their presence wa3 more an evidence of the loyalty of the trustees than of any artistic merit. The Citv Council gave them £75 a year and took hack £SO in rates, so that all .they got from the corporation was a beggarly £25. The Art Gallery was really a municipal institution, because it was part of the original arrangement that when everything was free of debt it was to bo handed over to the City, and in his opinion the council should give at least £250 a year for its upkeep. The society had 48 members. He thought it was little short of a disgrace to Dunedin that there should be only 48 citizens public spirited enough 6o subscribe the half-guinea a year which ysas the membership fee. Mr P. E. Sargood seconded the motion, end said that in our community there should be a great deal more interest shown in art. Only £9 was subscribed by visitors, and 48 members was a very poor result to attain. Perhaps the rising genraiioa thought it got more artistic enjoyment from the picture shows. The artistic pease ought to be encouraged, and it was the' duty of the City Fathers to do so. (Be trusted that that meeting was evidence that the work of the society would be supJwrted more heartily in the future. The motion was carried. On the motion of the Rev. G. H. Balfour the retiring trustees were Messrs J. Ijoudon, 1). E. Theomin, T, Brown, and B*Arey Haggitt. Mr.W. Begg, the Mayor-elect, on whose motion Mr Peter Barr was unanimously reelected honorary auditor, said with reference to the matter of rates that he was not" there to answer for the sins of city councillors. He would like to assist the society a great deal more if the City Council had the necessary balance; but if they remitted all the rates concerning which requests were made to them they would find the pressure somewhat hard. He believed that sooner or later Dunedin would be a non-rated City, but, he was afraid that that was in the dim future. This ended the formal business. For the rest of the evening the company enjoyed the music of the orchestra, listened to an address by Mr P.. Hawcridge {director cf the Schooler Arts and Crafts), find spent a while in looking at- tho pictures. Supper was afterwards served. * The subject of Mr Haweridge's address was 'Art and Citizenship.' He said that the Allies were saved by sentiment just as the Germans were lured to their downfall by the syren song of a materialistic pliliosophy which taught that in international relations nothing really counted but force and convenience. The immaterial forces had proved stronger than the material. The; beautiful was essentially superior to thejnerely useful. All things' are beautiful if one bad eyes to see. A picturo gallery wa* in the truest sense of the word a place of holy worship. Art was the magic jewel that transformed the commonplace, filled it with poetry, romance, and beauty, revealed its very soul. It was the most important factor in education, especially |n the education of a cblzen. It' was a strange paradox that iu thsse davs of phortex hours of labor life was much less leisurely than in the old hard-working days. Citizens of Otago had shown themselves extremely generous in many ways, but had never risen to their responsibilities towart art. _ Tha immaterial and jmiritnal aids of life might be useless in the sense that one could not eat it nor make money out of it, but it was the only side of life out of which ona could make'happiness and -contentment—the only weapon with which to fight Minimalism, Maxunalism, Chauvinism, Spartacism, Bolshevism, and all the other "isms" which to the yearning sentimental souls of restless, weary men and women promised the millennium, but delivered anarchy, destrucJioni aoad death. Let us see to it that

there was beauty in the souls of our citizens, _ otherwise, the : city beautiful would remain in the future as 'it always has been in the past, a my til