ROTARY CLUB

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 174, 24 June 1926, Page 8

ROTARY CLUB

TALK ON ART. Rotarian R. H. Billens, of Palmerston North, gave an illustrated talk on art at tho Rotary Club this afternoon. With the remark that all tho great artists, similarly with literature, were men, Mr Billens stated that the definition of art was not necessarily a quest for the beautiful as we knew it; aid was as old as the human race—from the very earliest times men had sought to express their emotions or feelings through the medium of paint. Wherever men had congregated together there had been outbursts of expression of their thoughts other than in mere words. In self-expression there were three influences always at work; roughly we might say the objective influence, the subjective influence, and tho influence of the creator. All schools that had originated in landscape painting, continued tho speaker,' had been dominated by one or other of the above influences, and the greatest influence of all, perhaps, was that of the medium. Art critics to-day believed that the man who could control his medium, better than • the other influences was going to be the greatest artist. It was rather curious that all men and women passed through the same stages in i their career; they started with the'object, then came the fascination of paint for paint’s sake, and at last, when having thoroughly mastered the object and tho medium, their minds sought to create their emotions. These triple influences were illustrated by works of the celebrated English artist, Turner, also by those of Corot. A hearty vote of thanks was tendered the speaker at the conclusion of his address.