THE SOCIETY OF ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19976, 19 June 1928, Page 12

THE SOCIETY OF ART.

Sir, —The Society of Art seems _to be in a bad way. The list of working members has dwindled to a paltry total of 126, while local amateur and professional artists look in vain to this richly-endowed society for leadership and encouragement. Worst of all, very few take interest in a society which has wilfully cut itself adrift from the fine central, gallery and headquarters bequeathed to it by former citizens, and glories in the pursuit of ideals utterly unsuitable to local conditions and needs. All art is difficult, and for this reason the humblest achievements are worthy of respect and recognition, particularly in a place like Auckland, where art is but a young and delicate plant. Perhaps if the council of the society had realised this it would not have persisted in the narrow policy, which has brought the society from prominence to comparative obscurity. Recently a lot was said as to the need of fellowship among artists. Now, fellowship, like charity, begins at home, and if the members of the council had themselves displayed more of this quality things might have been different. But, alas! The policy of the council has been to welcome intending exhibitors at the front door, and afterwards to project most of them down the back stairs. Heaven alone knows how the line is drawn, or if any line at all is drawn, when selections are made for exhibition. The result in any case is that the exhibitions lack interest, and are not representative of local art and talent. Of course, it is not pleasant to speak of faults in any art exhibition. But the chief faults of the last exhibition were its lack of interest and its unrepresentative character. I 'say nothing about the art qualities of the exhibits; these, we are told, were quite satisfactory. Yet, as a whole, the display was not representative of local amateur and professional art, neither did it possess any outstanding merit or interest. In fact, if it had not been for the superb drawings of William Blake, the exhibition hardly repaid the trouble of the ascent of the lofty Dilworth Building. The position is deplorable. The society has the endowments, and is the chief local art body. But it is doing little or i\othing to encourage art or artists. If the council can view with complacency the rapidly decreasing list of members, the meagre sales, and the want of interest displayed by both the public and artists in the society, then they must easily be pleased, and the society will survive only as a small self-satisfied coterie. Critic.