Painter of Miniatures of International Reputation

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 41, 18 February 1938, Page 11

Painter of Miniatures of International Reputation

One of the foremost miniature painters in - the world, Mrs Montague Marks, wife.qf the general manager of London Film Productions, arrived in Auckland by the' Monterey from Sydney.

Mrs Marks, who is an Australian by birth, began painting miniatures in England just before the Great War. She returned to Australia in 1914 and held exhibitions iu Perth and Melbourne. In the same year sho left for New York, where she lived for 19 years. Her miniatures have as great a reputation in the United States as they have among art connoisseurs in England and other countries.

’‘The vogue for miniature painting will always exist,” Mrs Marks told the Herald. “It is one of the most beautiful forms of art and one which does not require a largo gallery to show it to advantage, because miniatures look charming in any room. “A good miniature must have all the drawing, composition and knowledge that goes to make up a large portrait,” continued Mrs Marks. “It is, in fact, a portrait in water colours on ivory. The beauty of a miniature is in the transparency of colour on the ivory, and to achieve that the artist has to be swift and direct in her work, The weakness of many miniatures to-day is in the fact that some artists do not consider that drawing counts so much in this form of painting as in full-size work.”