The Evening Star THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1934. ART LOAN EXHIBITION.

Evening Star, Issue 21710, 3 May 1934, Page 8

The Evening Star THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1934. ART LOAN EXHIBITION.

In a lamentation on the slowness of cultural development in New Zealand, following that which had been made a number of years earlier by Mr W. P. Reeves, Professor J. B. Condliffe has written: “ If fiction and verse are still backward, it is to be expected that drama is in even worse condition. There is a very recent interest in reading modern plays, and the first efforts are being made to establish repertory theatres, but only one volume of New Zealand plays has been produced. The pictorial arts are more developed, with characteristic . work already beginning to appear.” Since that analysis was made only four years ago some signs of advance have been shown. The interest .in drama has grown apace, and the volumes of New Zealand plays now number three. With all the disadvantages that they suffer due to remoteness from the world’s great centres, not a few of our art galleries can be praised by visitors for the care which they exhibit in making the best display of, their contents and for the wisdom with which small revenues have been spent. The greatest disadvantage, both for societies and for artists, that of remoteness from lands where art is a real tradition bearing its brightest fruits not rarely but in profusion, promises to be diminished now in the best manner. The richness of the treasures which it contains for all to see has not been enough in recent years for London. One exhibition after another has been opened there of pictures lent from Italy, from Prance, from Holland; and now a collection of British pictures has come here, and is being shown in the Dunedin Pioneer Hall, which it is hoped will be the precursor of many similar collections in future. To the inspiration and the persistent efforts of Mr P. 11. Sargood, joined with the generosity of well-wishers at Home, this benefaction is due, and the warmest gratitude cannot fail to-be felt by local art lovers to all the co-opera-tors. Tho Empire Art Loan Collections Society was formed in London in 1931 to obtain the loan of works of art and craft work for the public galleries and museums in London and the provinces and for private owners, and to arrange for periodical exhibitions in the oversea dominions. Tho conception of the society, it has been said, arose with Mr P. R. Sargood, then chairman of the Dunedin Art Gallery Trustees, in consultation with Mr J. B. Manson, the director of the Tate Gallery, and others interested in the dominions. A law is in existence in England which prevents the works of national art galleries leaving the country, and when the society found that it was unable to carry out its original project the present scheme of loan works from private collectors and sOmo local public galleries was

» evolved. The collection consists of I nearly three hundred works, and is the best of its kind ever sent to the. Southern Hemisphere. Seventy years of contemporary British art, more particularly that of the last thirty years, is represented, and only the best work of artists has been selected. The scheme has no commercial aspect. None of the pictures has been obtained from the artists, and none is for sale. Our oversea friends have indeed cause to be thanked. Mr Sargood has dwelt on the generosity of those publicspirited people who have opened their private collections to us, and have not hesitated to loan some of their most cherished and valuable treasures, parting with them for perhaps twelve to eighteen months. The influence of such a collection, to be seen at a nominal charge, and of others which, if all goes well, will follow it, should be not less than His Excellency the GovernorGeneral, in his felicitous message, and Mr Downie Stewart, speaking at yesterday’s opening ceremony, have indicated. It is confidently hoped that this session the Imperial Parliament will pass aj) Act to legalise, the loan of ;picterus to galleries outside Great Britain, promising expansion of this beginning. Meanwhile it is for this community to show its appreciation of the benefit that has been conferred upon it. It will do that without any doubt by seeing and studying the pictures, but there are other, ways. As certain costs have to be covered it has been suggested that those who can do so should express their thanks by donations towards the expense of their local exhibition, which may be sent to the secretary or the nearest member of the local society, the great aim being not only to cover the cost of the first exhibition, 'ut to build up a. fund to ensure a continuity of collections. Another obstacle which still obstructs the fullest development of the scheme is that many New Zealand galleries are not very liberally endowed with the necessary revenue to finance such exhibitions of loan pictures. This difficulty has been partially overcome by private guarantees or State aid. Of the greatest object to be served by such extension of art services Mr Sargood has spoken well. “ In this age of mechanisation, whether by Communism, Fascism, or dictatorship, it is sought to roll each individual into a common mould. We are likely to lose, and, indeed, are losing, the "human soul. The old artisan craftsman, with his love for putting his individuality into his work, is dying out. The industrialist is a cog in the wheel of human endeavour, doing so many mechanical acts in a certain number of hours—a dehumanising period. Even in regard to literature persecution is showing an ugly intention in some countries. The human craves for individual expression and for a place to which he can retire for rest and meditation, away from the machine-made crowd. What better place than an art gallery or an exhibition of art, where as yet ‘ soul expression ’ reigns supreme!”