CANTERBURY ARTIST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18566, 26 November 1923, Page 10

CANTERBURY ARTIST.

SUCCESSES IN FRANCE.

COMPARISON WITH BRITAIN.

After an absence from New Zealand of about 13 years, Mr. Sydney Thompson, the most successful artist the Canterbury School of Art has produced, has returned to Christchurch. He will be accorded a civic reception by the Mayor, Mr. J. A. Flesher. Mr. Thompson is accompanied by his wife and family, and it is his intention to remain in New Zealand for 18 months. He will then return to France, where he has established his home. His visit to Christchurch is to see his people.

Although Mr. Thompson in recent years confined exhibitions of his work to France, he previously was an exhibitor at the Royal Academy, London. Many of his pictures are hung in homes in Christchurch. Besides studying at the School of Art, he was a pupil in Christchurch under the late Van der Velden, and the influence of this master painter is shown in Mr. Thompsons work. Later, Mr. Thompson spent a year in Paris in further study, and he then returned to New Zealand and conducted classes at the School of Art in Christchurch. .He last left New Zealand in 1910.

"I hope people in Christchurch will not think my work now is too modern; really, as painters go in France, I consider myself one of the antiques," said Mr. Thompson. Yet Mr. Thompson has great sympathy with the modern schools of painting. That is why he established himself in France. It is the home of the modern schools.

"I am more interested in the art of France than that of England. I think French art more alive. . Artists are slower in England in getting away from traditions." This is the reason given by Mr. Thompson for his attachment to France. "Modern painting in France is more impressionistic than art fin England," he added. "Yet the impressionist school really originated in England with Constable and Turner. But they move by slower stage 3 in England than they do in France." Mr, Thompson admitted that the changes in art tin France are almost too rapid. A new idea only lasts, as a rula. about three or four years. For instance, cubism is now a thing of the past. The Autumn Salon and the Salon Independence exercise a great influence in modern art in France. But although Mr. Thompson sees a great deal to admire in the new phases he confesses that he prefers to continue allegiance with the school represented by the Salon Fran-' cafis, which each spring opens a big salon. This salon .holds a position in France almost equivalent to that held by the Royal Academy in England. Mr. Thompson has been a regular exhibitor at the Salon Francais. Although the tendency represented by the salon is to resist the sudden changes in art, it recognises that they are often a healthy influence, and they often are to an extent assimilated with the conservative branches of art.