CHOICE ART COLLECTION

Evening Star, Issue 20128, 19 March 1929, Page 7

CHOICE ART COLLECTION

BROUGHT BY MR M. M'CORMICK Lovers of the line arts are telling one another of the collection of original antique and modern water colours, oil paintings, drawings, and etchings, by British and Continental artists of high repute, that Mr M. M'Cormiek has gathered and brought here for auction at Park, Reynolds's rooms on Thursday afternoon this week. Mr M'Cormiek, who lately built an important art gallery in Christehurch, is in regard to this collection acting as agent For the artists who are represented — artists that the world knows and honours, such as Frank Brangwyn._F. J. Knowles, Yeend King, Frank "v\ aslev, Norman Wilkinson. P. Vander Velden, and J. L. Balfour. Mr M'Cormiek has paid New Zealand the compliment of excluding meretricious and merely pretty pictures, and at the same time he has selected so as to suit the smaller as well as the larger purses, so that real connoisseurs of all classes may have _ the joy of owning something authentic and worthy ol lite companionship. Out of th ecatalbgue of 109 works a few may be mentioned, not because they dwarf others —for that is not the case—but to show the wide range of subject and method. ' The Favourite Pigeon,' an oil by J. L. Balfour, is conspicuous for the drawing of the figure, exquisite colour harmony, and sparkle. ' The Mystic East,' by B. Fletcher, is clever and full of character, mysteriousness dominant. ' Venetian Glory,' by Frank Wasley, is a good representative work that sets forth how near " the modern Turner " has got to the great man of the name. 'The Tranquil Hour,' by Yeend King, is a delightful study in oils of a springtime landscape that arrests attention. This artist is one of the accepted modern masters. ' The Buster Cut,' by C. H. Campbell, is a presentation in oils of a real Maori girl who is laughing over her recent venture into short hair. ' Market Place, Verona,' by J 3. Fletcher, is a very strong water colour, full of feeling. ' Sunlight and Tide,''by Carruthers Gould, is sure, to catch the eye of bidders. Gould is a celebrated caricaturist and sea painter. ' Anxious Moments,' by Philip F. Strettaii, is a gem, the subject a terrier that has been left to watch a dangling iishing rod and is perplexed when he sees signs of a bite. The excellent collection of etchings by Royal Academicians and French professors should not be overlooked.