SCHOOL OF ART.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14915, 10 February 1909, Page 5

SCHOOL OF ART.

ANNUAL PRIZE DISTRIBUTION. The annual distribution of prizes of tho School of Art took place at Canterbury College Hall last evening. There was a very large attendance of pupils and their friends. Mr G. V/. Russell, M.P., chairman of the College Board of Governors, presided, and there wore also on the platform the ; director and staff of the school and members of the Board of Governors. Mr Russell said that the occasion was the twenty-sixth anniversary of the opening of the institution* and during the last few years it had recovered from the period of depression that had been encountered* and was now experiencing great prosperity. During 1908 the number of free pupils bad been 79, compared with 67 in 1907. The foes had risen from £626 in 1907 to £671, and the Government grant had risen from £1169 to £1306. That increase had enabled the Board to increase salaries from £1460 to £1584, though there were directions in which the Board still further desired to increase. In pursuance of its progressive spirit tho Board had given the director six months’ leave of absence, and he would visit Great Britain and Europe, and come into direct communication with the art institutions there. Education- j al science had developed so rapidly | that, though it was only' seven years ! since Mr Herdman Smith had left . Europe, the speaker felt sure that he would bb greatly benefited by his visit. j The Board desired that the School of i Art should be quit© up-to-date, and j however studious a teacher might be- . come by reading, personal contact would do more in three months than all the reading possible could do. He ten- ! dered to Mr Smith best wishes for a safe and pleasant trip. There were sixty-eight classes held weekly at the school. The students in the life classes numbered 50, in the arts and crafts 40, design 75, drawing and painting 200, and trade classes 80. There were 33 juniors in attendance from | the public schools under th© free place 1 system, and the Board had decided to ! grant two scholarships, each valued at , £25 per annum, for applied art and pure art, and tenable for one year. That should provide a decided stimulus to the study and love of art. The Arts and Crafts Guild numbered 100, and it was kept up for progressive study, many of the members boing exstudents of the school. One hundred State school teachers attended each Saturday morning for instruction, so the school was a centre from which the influence of art radiated through the schools of Canterbury. Twenty-five Normal School students also attended for black-board drawing. The numbers of students for 1908 were—morning 213, afternoon 321, evening 327 and Saturdays 299. Mr Russell added that he still felt the want of a better test for the work of such an institution. An annual examination was held under the South Kensington Institution, the papers for which were sent out from London. With that exception there was no other test as to the thoroughness of the work, but the examination made by the director and hie staff. Personally, he placed no reliance on such an examination. The necessities of education required that there should be some outside method for the satisfaction of all. He and his colleagues had the utmost confidence in the director (applause), but a student leaving should have power to carry away a degree or diploma to show his efficiency. He referred to the departure for Europe of Mr Raymond M’lntyro, and said that he had a great future bofore him. He trusted that Now Zealand would have the honour of reaping the kudos of that young man’s success as an artist of the first rank. (Applause). He expressed a hope that the College would soou be able to do for music what it was now doing for art. The proposal to establish a conservatorium of music had met with tremendous Hostility from the Society of Professional Musicians. Wherever there was such a body it would probably be opposed to State assistance to a conservatorium. He did not think that the members need fear that their means of livelihood would fail on the establishment of a oonservatorium. He was exceedingly amused to see that that hostile body had actually proposed that a professional orchestra should be formed to tour the country at a cost, probably,, of £30,000 or £40,000 per annum. Whatever its idea was, he doubted whether the Government would bo prepared to spend such a sum, but if it spent a third of that sum on a conservatorium, people would have no need to go to Germany to complete their musical studies. In conclusion, he congratulated the director and staff on the continued success oi the institution.

The director read a. report dealing at length with the work of the year, and Mr W. H. Montgomery spoke, congratulating the director and touching on the special features of the work done. Ho said that he was in favour of a. travelling scholarship, and consideied that Mr Herdman. Smith had done a very great deal for art in Christchurch. (Applause.) He referred in highly appreciative terms to . the excellence or | the work exhibited in the school, and said that the standard was much higher than formerly. ■ Musical items were given by Madame Bernstein, who sang “ A Song of Waiting ” with considerable power and sympathy; the Misses M’ Intyre, who played two duets for piano and violin excellently; Mr R. D. Adams, a baritone of parts; and Master A. Gurnsey. Those present then inspected the j work of the students, which was arranged in a comprehensive manner in the school. The display was tar above those of former years, and expressions of admiration were heard on all hands. Mr Herdman Smith and the staff snowed the visitors round, but it was impossible to gain in a cursory inspection an adequate idea of the many fins points of the exhibition. The life studies are an especially good feature of the work, the heads and studies in the nude being remarkably good specimens of careful and accurate work. The section for applied art contains also some very creditable work, and the poster and decorative efforts are noteworthy. Drawings, from cast, woodwork, metal decorating and modelling are sections that attract attention, and the exhibition as a whole is full of merit and the promise of much greater tilings. The display wiU be open free of charge to the public from 10 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. daily until Tuesday. ■ r J The following is the list of awards: PRIZES, i Set of drawings from living model, Edwin Bartley. Hoad in oil or water-colour from life, Ethel Bennetts. Set of landscape sketches from nature, E. Munray-Aynslej. Set of costume studies on the living model, Hilda M’lntyro and K. Turner. Sot of stilllife or flower studios, Daisy Osborne, bet of drawings from the antique b - Blister. Set of designs. Ruby Partridge and Ruth Woodfield equal. Set of articles executed in material. Mrs Wilks and Esmond Kohn equal. Set of modelled studies, Mildred Gerard and Carmen Gunderson equal. bot of black-and-white illustrations or posters incolour S. G. Brister and W. Barrell equal. Set of drawings illustrating methods of construction in the building trades, E. H. Law and R. .1. Scott. Examples of painting and decorating, J. Walther. Set of drawings of common objects, B. Broadhead. Sot of drawings of heads from the cast, Hilda Edgar. Set of brush studies from nature, Rose Zeller. Set of woodwork studies executed by hoys in the day classes, Frank Pollard. Set of plans and elevations of dwelling-houses by hoys in. the day classes, Glifton Manhire. Set of

needlework specimens: First rear, Ruth Woodfield; second year, Holly Boot. SCHOLARSHIPS. Day Students—Life scholars Hip, Daisy Osborne. Advancod art scholarship. Daisy Osborne and H. Edjp-r equal. Appliod art scholarship, Mrs Wilks. First elementary art scholarship, B. B'roadhead. Second elementary art scholarship, A. Sugdcn and R. Zeller equal. Evening Students—Life scholarship. S. G. Blister. Antique drawing- scholarship, It. Turner. Applied art scholarship, S. G. Bristcr. Medal for architecture, G. Halliburton. Architectural scholarship, G. Halliburton. Painting and decorating scholarship, J, Walker. Elementary art scholarship, Annie Gibb.