CANTERBURY SOCIETY OF ARTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11874, 25 April 1899, Page 3

CANTERBURY SOCIETY OF ARTS.

THE ANNUAL EXHIBITION. L - The nineteenth annual exhibition in conne’etion with the Canterbury Society of Arts is emphatically'well worth seeing, and worth deliberate inspection. It is not by any means, as some ha.vc ventured to affirm, the best pictorial display that has been held under the auspices of the Society, but it is distinctly the best,for the,past five years; and, although there are. not a few points cf objection, the excellencies of trie display are too pronounced to be missed. According to the official catalogue, there are some fifty working members, and although some few of these are in the Old Country as is the case with Miss Stoddart, of floral fame —and others arc, for one reason or another, absentees this year, there is the liberal contribution of upwards of fifty oil paintings, of close upon a hundred water-colours, of more than a. score of architectural subjects, of many examples of, original design, of sculpture or modelling, and of wood carv'imn -And in all the classes there is excellence, a gooddeal of it of a grade high .eno.ugh to take a place in any Australasian exhibition. Moreover, there is a capital loan collection, included wherein are examples of ■the ceramic art—statuary, porcelain, e.tc., representing productions of Doulton, Beleek, Wedgwood, Minton and Limoges fame. There is, indeed, much to see, and in the seeing thereof much pleasure is to be found. And yet, so far as the recently opened season has gone, comparatively very few people have been to do the seeing or to experience the pleasure, even though tlm charm of music is being added in the evenings. One naturally wonders anew why this is—as one has wondered m previous years. The truth of course is that the Society lost prestige and public support by reason of internal dissensions, and that in its endeavours to make headway afresh it has failed to work on up-to-date lines. In connection with the present exhibition, tmth to tell, it has done a’goocl deal, stimulated, possibly, by. recent occurrences that have, reflected somewnat upon its managerial perspicacity.. But it 'Las a great deal to do yet Before it'can Tcgi-. timatelv claim the pride of place that for such B centre of Brighter Britain as Christchurch might well he won. j When a certain famous lecturer was hoklin tr forth in the Old Land on “ G bod Queen Be°ss” he descanted first upon her good qualities, because, he said, there was the dehciousness of the “huts” to come after. Perhaps in this case it may be as well to deal with the “.huts” first. There is an admirable building, but no one can even by courtesy say that it is admirably lighted. Dunng a dull forenoon it is a matter of no littL difficulty to judge of the merits of paintings in the larger room, and the illumination m the evenings leaves much to be desired, though with regard to the latter point experiments are just now being made, under 5. direct sopJ-ision of the energew larv oi the lies Company, rvith incandescent burners. And then, the banging m he pictures. .“Oh, hang the Hanging Connmb teeis likelv to be the expression of trio irritated critical observer. Here, he will reflect, as he trees -t fog out the sequence of suffi jeebs and numbers, “ is a scctonn of oils working members; then an area of t next, part of a _ loan coUecrtmi, mosaic-like ; then more oils by ".or- n in oddments in another, oddments ffi offii “rners.” And, if one finds an odd cbritribution in an odd corner, win. - it mean? The suspicion is, at any rate, aroused that the Hanging Committee has, not because of stress of circumstances, been able to keen the proverbial “ straight back, and the equally proverbial “ stiff p, and refuse to allow one item- to be sub a a tuted for another at the very last moment. Af'ain, the hanging system as at present pursued (pace the members of bhe in question, and the pbssib y irate student contributors) does not tend either to the advancement in artistic perception of the general public, or to the advancemtent of the exhibitors severally and collective],). F be it known that— taking the present year by wav of example—there are, per u p , - score of exhibitors who would preier to be indeed, from the critics’ standpoint, a And vet the productions of these £Ss it they—tbo not the students— happen to fit, are almort inclis criminately hung amongst the Productions of the Gamaliels in art at whose fe« toey sit Surely the time is fast coming, if it has not already come, when classes of merit shall bo assigned, arid when the relative degrees of merit, as determined by a reasonably qualified committee, shall ■ be duly indicated. , , A word or two with regard to the attractiveness of the exhibition. ihe material, as members of the committee are wont to lugubriously point out, is there. But the people will riot go, or what comes to the same thing, they do not go. ihen why not make speculative experiment. There are various societies in this city, as in others, that have succeeded in ‘ raking in the dollars ” by means of art unions. It would be invidious to cite examples: -they will occur to the general reader readily enough. At present, the Art Society docs this; It endeavours to coax people to join as life members, as ordinary members, or as working members. By way of inducement, it gives to each of its ordinary - and working members three art union tickets, beside the privilege of attending the exhibition on each and every occasion Jriat it is opened, and it gives to .each 1 working member one art union ticket. But the members of the great crowd of the general public are each required to pay'an:’admission fee of a shilling, and, if the artistic-cura-specula-tive spirit is strong upon them, to pay halfa crpwn in addition for each art union ticket. Why should it not be possible for such an institution as the Cantei’bury Society of Arts, with regard to the mass of the people, to be able practically to say, “We will compel them to come in,” giving to each and every admission ticket an art union possibility?” In the present exhibition the bareness of the centre of the big room is judiciously broken by the introduction of a stand whereon has been displayed

the ceramic loan collection. ,It has .been suggested ,iri there columns on a former occasion that the central parts of the rooms might bo -advantageously utilised, by the aid of suitable stands, for the exhibition of sketches pure and simple, and that in turn might be utilised as art union prizes. For be it borne in mind that the sketch—fresh from Nature—is not infrequently better to be chosen, from the true artistic standpoint, than the counterfeit presentment that has been produced in the studio.

It has already been said, without “if” or “but,” that the present exhibition is really well worth seeing, and it may be hoped that before the closing hour comes it will have been seen by many thousands of people. The close observer, it may be suggested, will come to the conclusion that of the two main sections, the oil paintings and the water-colours, the latter display an appreciably greater all-round excellence, with much of tender appreciation' of Nature’s moods, and much overcoming of technical difficulties in their interpretation. The subjects in the loan collection of pictures -afford valuable standards o! comparison, apart from their individual interest; the little department of architectural drawings will provide a <jood deal of interest, and demonstrate how the aid of photography may be judiciously called in for the great saving of unnecessary waste of time in linear or tint drawing; the half-dozen decorative designs will indicate possibilities for the future; the sculpture will, show something of high hope, for the “subtle brains and lissom fingers” of the rising generation, and the items of wood-carving, seeing that they comprise the very much overrated “chip” and the “relief” work, will, it is hoped, lead to an. appreciation of the incomparably higher merits of the latter class, and induce emulative yoimg people to submit themselves to a course of patient study in the principles of design.