THE ART EXHIBITION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21874, 9 August 1934, Page 15

THE ART EXHIBITION

Sir, —We have yet heard nothing but praise of the collection of paintings and drawings now on view at our Art Gallery. We have been told by those i who set themselves up as our guides in these matters that this collection is a representative. comprehensive and catholic one of the work of British artists during the last 70 years. But . is it? Seventy years takes us back to ! 1564. At that date, and for some years j later, some of the great painters, the ! giants of the Victorian period, were still living and still producing pictures, j great in theme and beautiful alike in ; form, colour and composition. Is there j an example of the work of any one of | these men in this representative and j catholic collection? Since that earlier j day, however, and during the later ; years of the period, there have been ; many artists producing year by year | works in the traditional manner, works i of great beauty, noble in conception, j showing alike the giSt of imagination j and the exercise of the greatest skill i in draftsmanship—the slow acquirement ! of years of patient study and practice j —showing, too, a thorough knowledge ! and understanding of composition in j form and colour,, wtirks of beauty in ; short and plain to understand by the : common people. How many of this type of picture are there in this catholic , collection? Those responsible for col- | lecting the pictures have not, it is true, included any of tlio worst ex- j aniples of the "modern" school. They j have at least had the grace to save us from having thrust upon us examples | of the obscenities and bestialities which j have disgraced some recent exhibitions, j insulting the intelligence of the sane and pleasing only the degenerato. There are, however, several paintings in the collection which, in the interests of sane and intelligent art, should receive the censure which they deserve and not be included in the paean of praise which apparently the president of the Society of Arts and others considers courtesy demands for the collection as a whole. I trust that the public of Auckland will visit the exhibition in large numbers to study and admire the works of those artists who have used their gifts to create things of loveliness, but I hope that they will have the courage of their convictions and not surrender themselves to any approval of those things of crudity and ugliness which their own judgment and sense of decency condemn. I also hope that they will realise that however good the collection is, it is not a representative and catholio collection of the work of the artists of Great Britain during the last 70 years. An Unrepentant Victorian.