AUCKLAND SOCIETY OF ARTS' EXHIBITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11800, 1 November 1901, Page 3

AUCKLAND SOCIETY OF ARTS' EXHIBITION.

Considering the inclemency of the weather there was a fair attendance at the Society of Arts' Exhibition yesterday. Marriage's band played selections in the evening. Two more of Mr. Hutchinson'3 casts (Maori studies) have found a purchaser, this time in the shape of a visitor to New Zealand, Colonel W. H. Allen, of Honolulu, who has bought tbem to present to the Bishop Museum of that place, of which the colonel 's one of the trustees. This institution kept Mr. Hutchinson employed for some years, particularly in full length sketches of the Sandwich Island natives. The colonel would on no account miss the present opportunity of adding valuable works of art to their collection, especially racial types by well-known artists. The lady friends of the society will dispense afternoon tea to-day at three o'clock, owing to the success of the Wednesday's function. Marriage's band will be in attendance, and it is anticipated some vocal selections will also be rendered. The exhibition reopens to-day from half-past twelve to five p.m., and from half-past seven to ten p.m. We have already noticed at some length what we. consider to be the principal work : of each artist of note, and now return to consider their work as a whole. Mr. C. F. Goldie's collection of native portraits is the most valuable addition to this year's art. It is of real importance, apart from picture-making, that the types here so ably delineated should be preserved. The. originals are fast disappearing. The typo of the old warrior is given in Patara Te Tuhi. The type of Patara will be extinct in a few years. Mr. Goldie, in several of these portraits, lias been pre-eminently successful in the portrayal of expression. " Caught Napping" is the head of a- sleeping Maori youth, whose features are seen enlivened by a smile of royal proportions in "Sammy's Smile." " Kai Paipa" is the portrait of a well-known native woman in Auckland, smoking, and would form a suitable companion to the one presented to the Art Gallery last year. The look of settled content is well expressed. Another study in expression is a small, but an exceedingly able one, well entitled " Suspicion," to which title might be added two appropriate lines from Spenser: — Under his eyebrows looking still askance. Showing his nature in his countenance. 1 The painter and the poet are at one in observation here. As the most successful portrait painter we have, Mr. Goldie must make his influence felt in local art. We have already noticed Mr. E. W. Payton's picture of " Pohutu, the Great Geyser of Whakarewarewa," and though by this and other works he sustains his reputation as a painter of landscape, distinguished by warmth of colour and harmony of tone, he has not this year singled himself out by anything exceptionally and pre-eminently noteworthy. " Wairarapa Plains" is an excellent example of water-colour art by the ex-president of the Auckland Society of Arts. We could not pass Mr. Frank Wright's general exhibit without a word for two pictures, which represent him at his best. One is in oil, and one in the medium he first loved, and mad© his own. " Swamp Land" appears to have been neither arranged nor composed, nor to bear evidence of being studied out. It impresses one as an example of unpremeditated art. It is there on the canvas because it was so perceived— harmonious whole. The other characteristic picture by Mr. Wright is in oil, and possesses an excellent quality in tone. These two pictures alone are enough to show Mr. Wright's charming individuality. From Nelson comes quite a large number of works of considerable merit. Miss Nina Jones contributes four small pictures, of which "A Study of Winter Roses" is the best. It is well painted. Like most of .the work from Nelson the canvases are small. Mr. J. H. Nicholson makes his debut with several pictures in oil, showing promise of better things to come. The "French Pass" is perhaps the best of a very equal lot. " On the Sands, Nelson," by J. A. Toplis, is many degrees ahead of this artist's other work. Its trifling deficiencies in drawing can bo condoned in what is evidently a sketch from Nature, with the truth of tone and breadth characteristic of outdoor work. In '* Another Spring," by C. A. Sadd, the delicate quality of colour and texture of the primrose is missed. The colour scheme is otherwise good. "A Break in the Storm," a small canvas by R. P. Rishwort'n, has merit. "The Derelict" is not so good. G. W. Carrington shows two pictures, which are well contrasted, being placed side by side. "Coast Study, Otago Peninsula," is in a light key, fresh and pleasant; a rippling wave and sunlit cloud' reflected on the wet sand of a receding tide. " Moonlight, Paterson's Island," is a very effective study in low tones. Miss Piloher exhibits several works, of which one has found a purchaser. There are many exhibitors that lack of space precludes our mentioning, but all works hung this year may be said to possess considerable merit, as the selection committee have done their work well, and with due consideration for the standard demanded by the growing artistic taste of the city. There is a small collection of miniatures of exceptional merit—the work of Miss Olga Morgan, which has attracted much attention ; also several pictures, by Continental artists, on loan, for which the society is indebted to Mr. A. M. Myers.