ARTS AND CRAFTS CLUB.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15141, 4 November 1912, Page 5

ARTS AND CRAFTS CLUB.

THE ANNUAL EXHIBITION

WEDDING ART AND UTILITY;

Tire exhibition of the Auckland. Arts and Crafts Club was opened to the public on Saturday afternoon and evening, and was well attended. Tho exhibition is now open each afternoon and evening. The articles catalogued under the heading of craft work are, in view of tho objects of tho club, among the most interesting in the exhibition. It is apparently very difficult to make all useful things beautiful, at all events on a commercial scale, and the workers of the club have endeavoured to show how and where tastefid decoration can best be effected. In a few instances the exhibits show bow decorative work should not be done. Some of_ the embroideries are examples. The initial work is certainly the most charming section. There is a good display of jewellery of all kinds, nearly all executed in beaten metal and enamels, and tho examples have, a, peculiar richness and a charm which arises by no means wholly from their departure from the customary forms of rich adornments. Mr. Reuben Watts exhibits many pieces of work that display rare craftsmanship in the art of working metals. Other exhibitors of very good work in this department are Messrs. N. Isaacs. P. Sinel, D. J. Payne, C. K. Blnckwell, and J. B. Godson, -Misses Kit Turner, A. B. Collins, L. Todd, M. Harris, and A. Buckhurst. Among the larger metal work, in the shape of

beaten copper trays and other utensils, are some good exhibits by Miss Kit Turner, Mr. E. T. Hamilton, Mr. J. 11. W. Parsons. There is a good showing of leather bags, purses, book-covers, and other articles, ornamented in relief and in line, and some of them are very handsome and are thoroughly adapted for serious use. There are some very finely bound books, also, and they suggest that home bookbinding is a hobby that is too little cultivated. There are few places whene art and craft may be more fittingly combined than upon the covers of one s precious books, and few amateur workers in leather derive

jrealer after-pleasure from their labours than those who design and make handsome book-bindings. Tho painting of china is an art productive of many beautiful results, and several clever manipulators of colour upon vases and other delicate warn have sent in lino examples of their best work. The photographic section, while it contains a large number of Attractive works, calls for little detailed reference. Its special interest is for the amateur photographer who is curious about the more elaborate' and difficult of modern printing processes. Nearly all the- pictures are from the cameras of Mr. Gerald E. Jones and Mr. E. Warner, and only a very few are tho result of direct photographic, processes. Oil-prints, bromoils, and other "control" processes, in which tho brush plays fully as great a part as the camera, constitute the great bulk of the display. These processes entrust the worker with great powers in modifying the result ordinarily obtainable by mere chemical processes, and there is a great temptation m them to distort light values in tho search after striking effect. This has certainly been tho case with somo of the exhibits. In at least one instance, bright sunlight shows in a small patch of brightness in a picture otherwise made up of black masses of shadow. On tho other hand, the oil-processes allow great improvements to be made in tho lighting, and to a certain extent they enable a photographer to be a colourisfc. Some of .Mr. Warner's photographs are in colours and have a very good effect. Photography is an art tho value of which is apt'to be derided by painters. But there are many who have the gift of perceiving a picture and of composing one, but who have nob the skill of hand to draw or paint their visions, and the camera is their brush and pallette. There are many pictures in the room devoted to tho photographers that show how serious their- rivalry with painters in the sphere of art can be, and the section ie well worth serious study. A photograph which has already secured a great deal of admiration is "The Nest," by Mr. G. E. Jones. A very striking picture by this worker is " Night in the Docks." He has also a few excellent portraits. Mr. Jones has experimented— with moderate successwith the photography of nude studies. Mr. Warner's "St. Panl'i! from Fleet-street" is an admirable example of a well-modulated oilprint, with very fine lighting of the cathedral. ThoTe is a central figure in the foreground, which has, of course, a secondary interest, bub it is forced into a rather peculiar relationship with the rest of the picture by being too heavily coloured. This is one of several London pictures, all of which have much charm. He has also some good landscapes. A few photographs by an American artistj Mr. A. L. Coburn, are displayed, and are attracting much notice.