ARTIST HONOURED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22318, 16 January 1936, Page 11

ARTIST HONOURED

DIPLOMA OF PARIS SALON TRIBUTE TO MR. C. F. GOLDIE INTEREST IN MAORI PORTRAIT Advice that he lias boon awarded nil honourable mention diploma of the Societe des Artistes Franeais, for his picture "Thoughts of a Tohunga," which was exhibited at the salon last year, lias been received by the Auckland artist, Mr. C. F. Goldie. This honour makes Mr. Goldie eligible to qualify for the three medals of the salon, leading to ono of the highest awards obtainable by artists. Mr. (jroldic is sending two pictures to the salon this year. The Salon des Artistes Franeais, the most important international exhibition of works by painters, sculptors, engravers and architects, attracted 4300 exhibits last year. "The number of portraits is considerable," stated Dr. Albert Garrignes, the art critic, in reviewing this particular section. "Kings,

princes, generals, bishops, citizens who have been honoured by the State, bourgeoises displaying a shop front of coloured jewels, contented people with their hands crossed over the stomachs, gouty people fixed in their armchairs. Let us take the alpha and omega of this long list, say 20 portraits interesting on account of the manner of the painter or the fame of the sitter. "1 prefer rather," continued Dr. Garrignes, "to speak of a native priest of New Zealand, by Charles Frederick Goklie. Against a light brown background the head stands out in relief, with its regular tattooing which harmonises with the bluish green of the ear ornament and pendant at the neck. It is an old tohunga with scanty white hair. The New Zealander meditates, his eyes half closed, and his face expresses an intense inner thought. Finished in its details, the painting is discreet, but pleasing to the eye by this same discretion. It arrests attention by the spirit of that which it expresses." Actually "The Thoughts of a Tohunga." is the only portrait in the exhibition that Dr. Garrignes criticised in detail.

A further compliment to Mr. Goldie's work is paid by Dr. Herber, of Cette, the French authority on tattooing. "Your picture is a work of art and a scientific document at the same time," he writes. "Few draughtsmen who specialise in the illustration of scientific books know how to give to their pictures a cachet of art, and fewer still professional artists are able to make a document of their pictures. You have proved that art and documentation are not incompatible."