NINETEENTH CENTURY ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17802, 8 June 1921, Page 8

NINETEENTH CENTURY ART.

GROWTH AND EVOLUTION.

LECTURE BY PROF. SHELLEY.

"English Art in the Nineteenth Century" was the subject of an illustrated lecture delivered last evening in the biological lecture room of the Auckland "University College by Professor Shelley, professor of education at Canterbury College. The room was filled to overflowing with- an audience which followed the lecture with the closest attention. Professor J. C. Johnson presided.

Professor Shelley dealt with the subject in a light and at times humorous-manner, while insisting throughout upon the basic principles upon which true art is founded. Lantern slides of pictures typical of the works of the various artists quoted were displayed by way of illustration of each" phase touched upon. Commencing, with a discussion of the formalism which ruled art as it ruled literature in the eighteenth century, the lecturer proceeded to an extended discussion of the works and influence of Turner, whom he described as the real pioneer of landscape painting, and the great exponent of that peculiarly English Branch of art, He also dealt with the work of Turner as the forerunner of the modern impressionist 'school; From Turner he proceeded to the rise of the pre-Raphaelite school, and described the inspiration and foundation of that brotherhood • with which are associated the names of Millais, Holihan Hunt, and the two Rossettis. He detailed the history of their revolt against the formalism of the schools, the storm of criticism with which their work was received, and the strong sdipport which they received from Ruskin. He also dealt with the extravagances into which lesser exponents of the school fell. / Next came the movement for which Dante Gabriel Bossetti, branching off from the pre-Raphaelites, was responsible —the neo-medieval revival. In this connection Professor Shelley dealt with the works of Burne r .Tones in painting and the parallel work of William Morris and his associates in literary art, Next in order was discussed the coming of the. French artists ;Manet and Monet,, with the impulse they gave to the nascent impressionist movement to be developed so fully, so far as English art was concerned, by Whistler. In this connection he touched upon the. entry of Japanese art into the Western world. This phase was discussed at some length, the substitution of emotional representation for microscopic' fidelity in detail being explained at some length and illustrated, *o far as the black and white of the lantern slides permitted. The end of the nine, teenth century being this limit of the subject, the lecturer went no further than merely to mention post-impressionism cubism and futurism, as beincr offshoots of the impressionist school. The keynote of the lecture "was insistence upon true art as an expression of nature and of life.