A LITTLE-KNOWN PAINTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20650, 23 August 1930, Page 8 (Supplement)

A LITTLE-KNOWN PAINTER.

TRIBUTE TO OWEN MERTON.

Tho work of Owen Merton, R.8.A., a Christchurch-born water-colour painter, who deserves to bo much better known by his fellow-countrymen, is admirably described and illustrated in the latest quarterly number of " Art in New Zealand." Except for one, long-distant period of two years, Mr. Merto:i has lived since 1901 in Europe and America, but interest in his work has been kept alive in Canterbury, at any rate, by members of his family, especially his mother, to whom he has sent pictures at intervals, and who possesses a representative collection. Two of his water-colours and e fine drawing were exhibited last year by the Auckland Society of Arts and a number more are in the hands of privato owners, who have gladly lent them for reproduction. At latest advices tho artist, who is 43 years of age, was seriously iil in London, after a series of operations, and the editor of " Art in Now Zealand" expresses a hope that tho tribute paid to his work will cheer him and help his recovery. Mr. Merton's art, which eschews prettiness in favour of simplification, will probably nevor appeal to tho many. His colouring is subdued, and his pictures noarly all express a momentary aesthetic emotion which only the discerning can recapture from them. Their style, if such it can bo called, dates back beyond and ignores the eccentricities of the modern school. It is obviously a sincere expression of tho artist's heart and mind —which is more than can be said of much work by the younger men and women of to-day. Professor J. Shelley, though under tho handicap of never having met tho painter, has written and excellent little monograph upon him and his work, and tho reproduction of Mr. Merton's delicate landscapes and studies of buildings is uniformly excellont. The total effect is to show that hero is another absent son of whom Now Zealand should bo proud. It is to be hoped that if it does nothing olso tho publication will induce every public art gallery in the Dominion to buy at least ono of Mr, Morton's water-colours. Though ho lias had little or no influence on the development of New Zealand art, ho is part of its history and should no longer pass with such scant notice as he has hitherto received.