PICTURES FOR CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20282, 15 June 1929, Page 12

PICTURES FOR CITY.

COUNOIL PURCHASES THREE.

SALES AT THE EXHIBITION.

TOTAL OP OVER £3OO REALISED

Two oil paintings owl one drawing Kavo boon purchased f"> the City Art Gallery by the ■ Auckland City Council from the Auckland Society of Arts Annual exhihi' tion. '

"Three Score and Ton" is a self-portrait by A H. O'Keefo, the veteran Dunedin artist. It. is painted with remarkable boldness and vigour, so much so, in fact, that it. will probably appeal more to ad htirers of oil technique than to those who look for smoothness and detail, Nothing in it suggests the work of a painter who has reached the age. mentioned in the title.

The other painting is a landscape, "The Marne Valley," by Rhona llaszard, formerly of'Christchurch, but now resident in France. It embodios an unusual method .of emphasising the shapes of build ings and natural features by clear, dark outln es, - within, which are masses of strongly diversified bright colour, Although • far removod fronri likeness to nature the Whole makes an attractive pat tern.

By purchasing an example of students work for the public gallery tho City Coun cil has given very proper encouragement to the Elam School of Art, Tho vvork chosen is a spirited sketch in sepia of the male figure. It is by Hildegarde Dixon, who left the school some time ago to enter the Royal College of Art in London, and who lately earned tho distinction of having a charcoal drawing reproduced in the well-known art monthly Tho Studio . The prices paid for the works are respectively £25, £2l and £3 3s. Apart from pictures chosen by winners of art union prizes one further picturo has been sold to a private buyer. This is "The Fruit Barrow, ' by Ella Spicer.. The following are prize-winners* pur chases,' among which, it may be noted, local artists' work predominates;—

■ "Zi/wias," £lO 10s; "The Old Cottage, EUers'he" £6 10s; and "Post Oflice, Nihotupu," by Ivy M. Copeland, £5 ss. "Gi'njpse of the Sea," by Ella. Spicer, £4 4s . .

"Kangaroo Valley," by Minnie F. White, £7 7s.

"Roses," by Mabel Hill, £lO 10s. "Street jn Assisi," by Cranleigh Bar. ton, £lO 10s. > "Corfe, Loisfrt," by G. Hay Campbell, £8 Bs.

"OLd. Farmhouse, Panpiure," by Hilda Wiseman, £6 6s. "Essence of Sunshine," bv B. Jackson, £5 ss.

To these should be added, "Idyll," by .Cedric Savage, £42, which was chosen by the society as the first prize.

So far 38 works have been sold from the exhibition for an aggregate of £309