SOCIETY OF ARTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVII, Issue 11224, 23 March 1897, Page 6

SOCIETY OF ARTS.

' ■ ANNUAL EXHIBITION. The annual exhibition of the Canterbury Society of Arts was opened in the Art Gallery last night by the Hon C. J. Stevens, president.of the Society. Theie was a good atteifdance. The Hon E. C. J. Stevens said that it was his pleasing duty, as president of the Art Society, to open this the annual exhibition. He had'ho doubt whatever that there would- be - attractions,., especially; in- the form-.<,of, music/ which 'had been so kindly, promised',-b'y- somej. ladies Mild genblepien, ' whifcA’iw^mld L commend as farmorh .Attractive • tbam any •fe he waslikely to make either for his heavers grat-ih- ‘ cation or their edification. Atthe same time it would be wrong for him to pass overd one point,specially-in the minds oi the Committee of the Society, who desired to express their great .gratitude to those wlio had been so exceedingly kind as to lend them valuable works cf art to show wita their.: own pictures, .many of them ot great beauty and value. He might say that the Society had not gone hack this year. It had hot greatly increased in wealth, put there was no cause for alarm on that pomi), and, 1 in fact, they would have ended pretty much :as they had last year but for .the ■ fact that they bad spent_a considerable sum in the improvement of the gallery and in the preparation of medals for students, which he would present to those who had been successful in gaining them. On the present, occasion there were two subjects for regret. One was that they had not so many works of art as usual from other parts of the colony, a deficiency which, he believed, it was in the minds of the Council to, in some measure, remedy, u possible. '.The.other, was that there were ■ amongst them artists of prominence and ability who, unfortunately, were absent on the present occasion from the walls of the exhibition. ' The Society trusted that, m ' the -future, it would have their co-opera- ' tion and assistance; and .the Society earnestly' begged the public at large to : Consider that, by its own efforts, the Society had supplied them with that building," a' place which was fib for exhibiting* works of art ■to the best ■ advantage, and that the labour of carrying iOU a society of this kind successfully and creditably was a task of no ordinary magnitude. He would like to say that as one having a small share in the , management of the Society he looked with great gratitude to his colleagues on the Council for the efforts they had made to make ,the Society a success, and-its exhibitions creditable. The members of the Society thought they’ were entitled to earnestly look for the support and encouragement of the public, and he trusted that next 'year his successor would be able to address them in more jubilant terms, as a consequence of the increased support ' and sympathy of the public at large.' Mr Stevens then announced that the following were the medals which had. been awarded in connection with, the competition at - the previous exhibition -Miss Deakin, silver medal for head from life; Mr Green, Timarn, silver medal for landscape ; Mr W. Thompson, bronze medal for decorative design. During the evening a very good musical programme was gone through. Songs were sung by Mr Maitland Gard’ner, Miss.M. E. Bush played pianoforte selections, and Mr E. J. Painter selections on the violin and mandoline. ■ • It is intended to give short lectures on some of the evenings during the exhibition on various art subjects. ‘ The exhibition is, on the whole, an exceedingly attractive one. The number of pictures is somewbat less than at last year’s exhibition, being 196, i.e., 125 oil paintings, and 71 water-colours. . Besides the work - of local artists, there are paintings from - Auckland, . Wellington and Timaru. Many of' the .pictures are of great artistic merit. There are only nine exhibits in the students’.-competition, and thebestwprk is shown.;by;exhibitors.who: have already obtained medalp. On account of this, fact, and of thelimited competi-. tion, the' Council decided- übt to give arty medals this year. As the -Indian Famine Fund, concert takes place to-night, there will he no music at the Art Gallery, blit the exhibition will be open as usual.