THE NEW DOMAIN GATES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22461, 3 July 1936, Page 15

THE NEW DOMAIN GATES

Sir, —The public exhibition- of the nude statue at the gates of our Domain is—consciously or unconsciously a challenge as to how far the modern drift from the standard which can be termed the Victorian age standard of decency and purity, will be tolerated. It will be acknowledged by all that such an exhibition in life would at once invoke action under criminal law. Motherlove is the most unselfish form of human love and it is one of the best gauges of the things that are proper, flic'fact that it will be an offence to them should be one of the strongest pleas for the removal of something considered detrimental to their children. The Christian concept of what is fitting should surely characterise a nominally Christian community and one can say unhesitatingly that the considered opinion of every Christian congregation is against such an exhibition. Roval Oak. J. D. McNaughton.

Sir, —Your correspondent "Appreciative" evidently has a cast-iron mind which has been trained to imbibe such examples of "Art" when he can assert that there is nothing to cause embarrassment in this the latest statue to "adorn" our city. Could lie in a mixed company of friends or with his daughters (if he has any) stand and gaze upon this work without that feeling of embarrassment? But then we have his own word that "we see exactly what we look for." To my mind, in this our latest, the most of us see much more than we look for or care to see. This statue is supposed to represent an athlete. Have any of us seen an athlete so exposed, or would we for a moment tolerate him? I think not. In this case even the swan "set on high" alongside has covered its head in its plumage in shame that it has been caught in such company. Moderation.

Sir, —1 cannot understand why any exception can be taken to the beautiful statue which has been erected at the Park Road entrance to the Domain. From time immemorial the unspoiled figure of youth has been acclaimed a thing of beauty. In many happy and good homes bathing time in the nursery is a daily event of unalloyed pleasure, and one does not hear of mothers forbidding their adolescent daughters the pleasure of washing baby brother on the score of indecency. The wearing of clothing by humans, which originally was practised as ornamentation and later as a protection from the elements, has in the course of time been given an unwarranted moral significance; even the conventional vine leaf actually draws attention to what it is designed to hide. To envisage what the addition of a garment can do toward spoiling the effect of a statue, one has only to look at the drinking fountain in Albert Park —neck to knee certainly, but both absurd and indecent.

SIMfLICITAS

Sir, —Why all this mock modesty regarding the figure surmounting the entrance to the Domain? 1 can find nothing shocking, or disgusting, or even embarrassing iu the nude figure. Your correspondent, E.L. Ansell, mentions in his letter, that his pet hobby when abroad is to wander round Art Galleries where he expects to see true artistry in the nude. Either he has not been very far abroad, or has shut his eves to the nude statues that are displayed to the public gaze! The L.C.C. building in London displays several nude male figures, the Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner displays one, and there are many others, including the figures above the 8.8.C. building, and the Underground House. Hundreds of thousands of people pass these statues each day, taking as much notice of them as they would a piece of stone. All over the Continent, one will see the same thing displayed in the streets. After all, they are only images, and not real live men. Sex consciousness must be an obsession with the person who is embarrassed to realise the fact that lie, or she, is either a man, or a woman. Adam.

Sir, —1 also felt embarrassed when I saw the statue at the new Domain nates, but not for the reasons given by several of your correspondents. I agree with "Vox Populi" that it is bad taste, reflecting in (be minds of visitors against the community, when a very fine stylistic; conception should have embodied in the scheme a statue conceived and executed in realistic style. Auckland seems to have the unfortunate capacity for doing the wrong tiling with the host of intentions. It is high time it followed the system followed by rnanv other cities of consequence, and appointed a committee of architects, artists and others, whose duty it would be to approve or otherwise of any gifts of paintings and such like for public purposes, and to scrutinise the plans and models of other benefactions such as the Domain gates. If such a committee had been in existence in the past few decades the community would have been spared the sight of several statues in our parks, and our Public Gallery would not possess many of tbe bad paintings that now repel the visitor and convey a wrong impression oi art to the public. The usual procedure is for the municipality to appoint such a committee, in consultation with other bodies interested ill art and architecture. Purist.