NEW ART GALLERY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22353, 26 February 1936, Page 11

NEW ART GALLERY

NAPIfcR ACQUISITION T FIRST SECTION OPENED -V A fine addition to the pubjic amenities of Napier is the new art and museum, the first section of which has just been opened. • Before the earthquake of 1931 Napier * had a small art collection, which was housed in a room above the publio. library. This was destroyed. In recent] years successful efforts have been made by the Napier Arts and Crafts Society to provide the town with an art centre.., A sum of about £2500 was collected, sufficient to payfor part of a combinedgallery and museum, and the founda T ? tion-stone .was laid by the Governor--. General Lord Galway, when he visited Napier last year. The building, which has been designed by Mr. J. A. L. Hay, a Napier architect, will contain, when completed, - a picture gallery 49ft. by 30ft., two museum halls 35ft. by 30ft. and 56ft. by loft, respectively, with a central' hall suitablo for the display of sculpture, an office and a basement for storage and workshops. So far only the picture gallery has been erected, and", a further £7OOO will be required to complete the building. -Vi The gallery, which at present serves'" also as a museum, is lighted on the system devised by the late Mr. S. Hurst' Soager, the well-known New Zealand architect. It contains only three original paintings, two of which were given by the artists, Mr. Nugent Welch and Mr. Roland Hipkins, to replace others lost •> in the earthquake. There are, however, a very fine collection of Medici prints after old masters and reproductions in colour of works by Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso and other famous modern European painters. The museum exhibits include an exceptionally interring collection of Maori objects presetted by Lady McLean, some of them connected with" early New Zealand history.