MODERN TREND IN ART

Evening Star, Issue 21715, 9 May 1934, Page 6

MODERN TREND IN ART

REVERSION TO PRIMITIVE CONCEPTION ABSTRACT QUALITIES RATHER THAN ACTUAL REPRESENTATION A large crowd of art lovers gathered at the Empire Loan Collection Exhibition in the Pioneers’ Hall yesterday afternoon to hear a talk on oils by Mr T. H. jenkin, formerly of Dunedin, and now art master of the Southland Technical College. Mr Jenkin presented an informal analysis of the modern trend in art, his comments on the more challenging pictures of the exhibition arousing much interest. Mr P. L. Halsted was in the chair. Mr Jenkin said that twenty years ago, when he was a student in London, they used to. sec the works of John, Orpen, and others represented in this exhibition, and looked upon those men as detni-gods. It was rather a curious sensation to be speaking on them to-day. Mr Jenkin then went on to speak of the modern trend of art. In the Public Library one could read manv good books on this subject, but the exhibition of these works afforded a remarkable opportunity for an appreciation of that trend. A change had certainly been made manifest, but the question was—was it for better or worse? Personally, be believed it was for the better. Mr Jenkin added that, while he was not a modern, he sincerely endeavoured to appreciate the significance and intention of that school. People had been accustomed to seeing pictures painted from a certain point of view, and there was the culmination of that in the works of the great Victorian masters. The modern painter took the view that this style had beent fully exploited, and that all the possibilities of craftsmanship bad been explored. If one looked at the pictures in this exhibition with that in mind, one would see in them something that would not be there if they were regarded purely as representational of Nature. The young child knew a great deal more about art than the grown-up. He said straight out what he liked and what appealed to him, and would put down on paper his conception of a subject without bothering whether it really looked like it or not. A child was a primitive person, and represented the conception rather than the actual object. And many of these modern painters were only trying to get back to that child-like and primitive mood —conception and emotion rather than actual representation. Mr Jenkin spoke of the use of symbolism, the elementary forms of which they could all appreciate. The great representational painters made use of symbolism in their pictures, Mr Jenkin analysing the John portrait of the Duchesse De Grammont as a specific example of an artist’s suggestion of conveying the strength and power of a personality. The moderns were endeavouring, he said, to represent the idea at the back of the object. The study of the harbour, a picture that had aroused much discussion, he took as an artist’s interpretation of something abstract. But of all the pictures in the exhibition, the ‘ Chess Players of Roberts was the most striking; in fact, it was so striking that it hurt some people. Why was it so striking? 'When people played chess seriously, they were- absolutely intense in their concentration on the game. Roberts painted that idea when he did this picture. He simply eliminated everything that had nothing to do with chess, or reduced it to a minimum. His arrangement and design showed exactly what was happening—one could see who was getting the best of the play. The attitudes and expressions were just as well painted as if by a representational painter. It might be said that the woman reading the book on the Tight had nothing to do with the subject, but, to Mr Jenkin’s mind, her presence typified the attitude of the general public to the game of chess. Mr Jenkin was warmly thanked for his address.