ART EXHIBITION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21561, 4 August 1933, Page 13

ART EXHIBITION

BLACK AND WHITE DISPLAY .AUCKLAND CLUB MEMBERS The first black and white exhibition conducted by the Auckland Society of Arts was opened by the vice-president of the society, Dr. E. B. Gunson, in the club rooms, Victoria Arcade, yesterday. The ceremony was held in conjunction with a luncheon gathering of members, an address, "Patterns in Primitive Art" being given by Mr. Gilbert Archey, director of the War Memorial Museum. In declaring the exhibition open, Dr. Gunson said it was largely owing to the efforts of the society's sketch club that the exhibition was being held. He referred to the greatly increased activities of the society, which had made more pressing the need for increased accommodation. The exhibition, which is open to the public, will be held for a season of a week or ten days. The work has all been done by members of the club. In his address, which was illustrated with lantern slides, Mr. Archey showed how certain designs in ancient art, including that of the Maori, had been evolved from simple designs based on the human or animal figure. In some cases merely a feature of the human figure had been taken and in other cases the whole figure. The design had then become conventionalised in the course of time and not readily recognisable. Complicated patterns were then evolved by the repetition of the conventionalised design.