CAMERA ART

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22877, 4 November 1937, Page 16

CAMERA ART

NEW ZEALAND PRINTS BLEDISLOE CUP ENTRIES A largo collection of photographs by members of six camera clubs in the principal centres of New Zealand was placed on view yesterday in the Auckland Art Gallery. The prints, numbering 72, were all entered in the annual inter-club competition for a cup presented some years ago by Lord Bledisloe. The competing bodies were the Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and lnvercargill Camera Clubs and the .Camera Pictorialists of Auckland. The contest was won by the Dunedin Club, with Wellington second and Christchurch third. Judging was carried out at lnvercargill by Mr. T. H. .Tonkin, A.R.C.A., and Mr. F. J?. Petrie. The exhibition does not show any noticeable advance in New Zealand pictorial photography as regards either originality or technique. The best work is to be seen in the portraits, and there are some good architectural studies, but attempts at novel and unusual design fail to arouse the interest which tlic photographers tried to provoke. Genre subjects nppear to have been neglected, and open landscapes are treated in a way that does scant justice to the New Zealand countryside. However, it is clear that the Dominion lias many earnest and painstaking photographic workers, who may be expected to do better in future years. A portrait of Mr. Justice Blair, by Spencer Digby, of Wellington, is a remarkable character study, achieved with strong lighting. "Innocence," a broinoil print of a little girl, by Gerald 12. .Tones, of Auckland, and Head of a Boy," the champion print, by Joyce Neviil, of Dunedin, represent childhood most charmingly. A study of a bagpiper by H. J. Schmidt, nnd "Popeye," an old sailorman, bv P. K. Daws, both of Auckland, introduce a welcome element of. humour. Mr. Schmidt's "The Naked Sword" is much the best figure subject. A study of a climber on a snowfield by J. D. Knowles, of lnvercargill, is remarkable for excellent tone-quality, and the texture of the snow is beautifully rendered.