ART IN AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19280, 19 March 1926, Page 9

ART IN AUCKLAND.

Sir, —With reference to Sir James Parr's suggestion of amalgamating the Elam School of -Art with the Auckland University, I think it is time something was done to further the study of real art in Auckland. Apart from the commercial side of art. where business men arc at last beginning to realise the value it holds in advertising, etc., there should he instruction in pure art. only—remembering "A thing of beauty is a joy forever"— and that the best way to teach the existence and appreciation of beauty .(Rupert Brooke's everlasting cry), is to teach the expression of beauty, and this can best he done by the co-operation of the pencil or brush with the ideas latent in the brain from want of proper expression. To the artist, as to the poet, there is beauty in everything. Lord Leigh ton could see beauty in the most commonplace drapery, and the beauty of the interpretation is one of the chief 'characteristics of his work. Hogarth, considered to be the first painter of 'note in the early me of art, did much to draw attention to the moral state of affairs during his time, as his works have been recognised as being those of a man of great beauty of interpretation. . A man of an antagonistic nature, he utilised much of his talent to express his sarcastic declamations of the social vice around him, and his beauty of expression and understanding is unique. The privilege to merit the name of artist—whether as an amateur or professionally—does not lie in the ability to draw the lines of plaster casts accurately, or other still-life objects, nor to express in colour, even though itmay he delicately done, the rising or setting sun, but in the power and ability to express the thoughts of beauty that are in the brain of the artist. No matter how exquisitely a painting may be copied, it is not true art; anyone with enough patience can copy a .sketch. ' 1 run art is the interpretation of the inner thoughts, j AL'H.V/, 'Baomeza. . j