Banned Picture Surprise

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 167, 16 July 1937, Page 3

Banned Picture Surprise

SUPPOSED RESEMBLANCE OF YOUNG MAN TO DUKE OF WINDSOR.

President and Council of the Royal Academy have banned Mr Oswald Moser's picture “The Lord of Creation," which they had previously accepted and which was regarded as one of the “pictures of the year." The cause of the ban is the fear that the young man portrayed in the picture may be thought to bear resemblance to tho Duke of Windsor. Tho intimation was contained in the following letter: — “The President and Council of the Royal Academy request mo to inform you that as your picture, ‘Tho Lord til Creation,' appears certainly to allude to an affair which is a matter of especially painful regret to tho public, they have had to decide to removo tho picture from the exhibition." The picture was originally accepted and given a good position in Gallery 10. Mr Moser went to London on Varnishing Day and varnislid tlio picture. A representative of the Council of the Royal Academy, who was concerned with the rejection of the picture, said: “We were told, and it was commou go3sip at the Academy on Varnishing Day, that Mr Moser s picture was an allegorical study of the Duke of Windsor. “Wo looked at the picture and, though the portraiture was not very strong, we felt that it would.cause some disturbance and come to tho ears of the Royal family. "Its title, too, ‘The Lord of Creation, gives it away, and in view of all the circumstances wo decided to withdraw it. “I painted this picture nearly two years ago," Mr Moser*told tho Daily Sketch. j “It is intended to show a present-day \ youth being captivated by a woman of [ to-day, thereby serving as a pictorial sermon. “1 certainly had no person in mind when I painted the picture. 1 “Tho water-colour of the painting was fine exhibition in Rye for some time last year, and it caused no comment then. "The Academy authorities are basing their claim that the picture was refused by another London exhibition on bits of gossip they have heard. “I submitted a water-colour on the same subject to the Royal Institute. It was suggested that as a member of the Royal family was visiting tho exhibition I should not exhibit tho picture.