REMARKABLY VERSATILE

Evening Star, Issue 21994, 2 April 1935, Page 12

REMARKABLY VERSATILE

J. F. SGOTT, A DUNEDIN ARTIST MEMORIAL EXHIBITION OF HIS WORKS “ He lived for his art.” That was the epitaph of J, E. Hyett, the portrait sculptor upon James Fraser Scott, the Dunedin-bOrn .artist, who “might have gone on and done wonderful things,” had not he died in 1932, a victim of war injuries. He left behind him a substantial record of his art, as versatile as his ability and industry were great, and the opportunity given by his brother, Mr David Scott, of Roslyn, to the artist’s many friends and admirers and art lovers generally to inspect and appraise the talent of an artist who obtained no small measure of distinction at Home was welcomed this afternoon, when a large attendance was present at the opening of the memorial exhibition of his pictures in the Pioneer Hall.

A more comprehensive “ one man ” exhibition has never been seen in New Zealand; and probably, no artist has shown so widely pleasing and varied a collection of works. It is a remarkable exhibition in many senses. The striking impression, of course, is of the rare ability possessed by the late J. F.-Scott, Always ambitious, his gifts were early apparent in Dunedin. He devoted his life to art—and his art _ was not circumscribed. His versatility was amazing and it. only emphasised his brilliance, as in the many diyerse branches, each a long. study in '.itself, he was singularly successful. Obviously,' he had a fertile mind _ and a most discerning eye on his wide .travels. From landscapes and architectural paintings of immense variety, he turned, in his last few years, _to portraits, executed many commissions in. England, and achieved distinction, oh his deathbed, with his interior work, that particularly fine work,The Sculptor’s Studio,’ notable for its fine draughtmanship and wealth of detail, being taken, unframed by his friends to the Royal Academy. AN INDUSTRIOUS WORKER. The exhibition leaves no doubt of his brilliance as a painter, but what will further impress is the evidence of his industry. He must have been almost indefatigable. Over 240 of his pictures are in Dunedin, and 173 are now on display in the Pioneer Hall—yet, during his lifetime, he lived by the sale of his works. As many of his pictures are outdoor studies his industriousness becomes still more a quality to the marvelled at.

Of the five pictures which he had accepted for the Royal Academy—and acceptance is the hallmark of an artist,— three are now being exhibited, yet they do not dominate the display. All his pictures are of such even quality that not even critics with the most definitely individual tastes would care to select the outstanding work. With a full realisation of the many excellent exhibitions given in recent years in Dunedin, it can be affirmed, with confidence, that there is not one inferior picture on the walls, and that no artist has shown more infinite variety. TALENT EARLY RECOGNISED. Dunedin has justifiable pride and interest in this exhibition, for James Fraser Scott was not only born here, but' received his early art training in this city. A son of the late David Scott, a decorator, he was educated at the Kaikorai School, and his flair for drawing and painting was soon given expression. At an early age he became a pupil of the Dunedin School of Art, and on completing the prescribed course joined the Garrett Art Club, which had its studio opposite First Church, in 1896, under Mr A. H. O’Keefe, his brother, David, being a student at the same time. Recognition of his art came quickly, as in the two following years he was awarded the Otago Art Society’s medal for black, and white designs and the medal for landscape studies. In 1898 ho worked his passage to France, and for the next three or four years he studied at the Academic Julian, under Benjamin Constant, later going to Antwerp and Munich and finishing his long course of* training in Italy. While in Frace he achieved the honour of being the first New Zealander to have a picture accepted for the Salon. After his Continental experience he returned to. New Zealand as art master at the Wellington Technical College, and he is remembered in Wellington by his pictures in the art gallery there. He then went to Sydney and Adelaide, and on the outbreak of war he enlisted in the Australian Expeditionary Force. Badly gassed, and wounded in the left hand and neck, he was discharged, and was appointed an official artist to the A.E.F. \Three of bis pictures while on that service in France are distinctive exhibits in the Pioneer Hall. He settled in England, and in 1919, at the ago of forty-two, his first picture, ‘ Red Slippers,’ a highly artistic study of a nude, was accepted for tho Academy. An honour was his appointment as artist for the Australian and New Zealand Courts at tho Wembley Exhibition in many homes throughout the world to-day there are lithographed copies of his studies of the courts. Between 1919 and 1932 lie had five pictures hung in the Academy, the others being ‘ Springtime in France ’ (1920). ‘ Silver and Green’ (1922), ‘The Ranee, Lower Dinan ’ (1926), and, finally, ‘The Sculptor’s Studio.’ . An associate of the Royal Society ot British Painters, he exhibited at Burlington Hall, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and numerous other galleries in England. He was also a member of the Langham Club, an exclusive club, to which admittance is. granted only after the artist has painted a picture in a given time before a select committee of the most eminent artists of tho day. RECOGNITION ON HIS DEATHBED. For his last five years Mr Scott suffered intensely from internal trouble, the result of his war service. Though in comfortable circumstances, he was compelled to face starvation, through inability to eat other than sparingly, and he was fading fast when, in an effort to lift up his spirits, his friends suggested that he should paint a study of J. E Hyett at work in his studio. The picture was finished and signed just before ho lapsed into his final coma. His friend Hyett rushed to Sir Thomas’s Hospital with the news that the picture had been - accepted for tho Academy. Scott was overjoyed. The news was a great and wonderful consolation to him, but he again collapsed and died two days later, in April, 1932. “He was a brilliant man whom we loved and admired ” was one of the many striking tributes which Hyett paid his memory in an interview with the London ‘ Times.’ Eighty-five oils are included in the exhibition, and the remaining eightyeight pictures are brilliant water colours and very charming lino. cuts. It is an exhibition which will give immeasurable delight.: