A RETURNED COLONIAL ARTIST.
Yesterday Mr. Walter Wright, the wellknown artist (of Victoria Arcade), returned from London, via Sydney, after an absence of about two and a-half years. It will be remembered that at that date he went home in order to obtain further training in his profession. In conversation with a Herald representative yesterday, lie gave some account, of his mission to the Old Country, and his experiences there. Mr. Wright attended the Heachorly School of Art, one of the oldest schools in London, especially rich in costumes and armour. Many colonial artists have received their training; there, and among English artists have been T. C. Gotch, Fell (a well-known contributor to the Pall Mall Magazine), Oscar Wilson, a black and white artist, and others. During his stay at the Heatherley School he studied in oil, water colour, figure drawing, blaok and white, and received a general school training to fulfil the duties of a teacher of art. There were several hundred pupils studying in all branches, some of them from Australia and New Zealand. He had exceptional opportunities of studying, apart from the ordinary studies in the curriculum, the working of an art school. While in London he attended the lectures on anatomy of the London University. So*far as Mr. Wright could judge or learn, the English art schools were quite equal to those of Paris both as regards general ability of tho teachers and art teaching. The English course was quite as severe as the Continental one. Herkomer's school was run on similar lines to the art schools of Paris, and it is closely followed by the Slade school. The value of a sojourn in an English art school, in addition to its special training, was that it gave opportunities to the art student of seeing at the Academy and other exhibitions, the works of all the best masters. Mew Zealand was not coming into greater prominence as a sketching ground for English artists. They did not know, and consequently could not appreciate our climatic and atmospheric conditions, after the English climate. A Southern artist exhibited in England some pictures of New Zealand scenery, but they were regarded as over-coloured and unreal. The great advance in art, in England at the present) time, Mr. Wright says, is in black and white work. Some of the very best men are going into this field as being the most lucrative. The French competition is very keen, bub the English hold their own very well against the stuff" made in Germany." A goodly number of colonial artists are plodding on in the English schools, some of whom may make their mark some day. "One can appreciate," says Mr. Wright, "the New Zealand climate after experiences in London. For days and days at a stretch but little or no work was done owing to London fogs." Speaking of local matters, Mr. Wright said he hoped to remain in Auckland and take up his old duties. He was glad to see from a visit to the Choral Hall that the Southern artists would be so strongly represented at the forthcoming exhibition, and that the exhibition of the Auckland Society of Arts promised so ! well. '"That sort of thing afforded opportunities.of contrasting.style and mode: of: treatment, which prove ma-, terially useful' to the artists both in the North and in the South.' I, ; T ,'- "■• ■"••> j
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10415, 13 April 1897, Page 5
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562A RETURNED COLONIAL ARTIST. New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10415, 13 April 1897, Page 5
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