PLIGHT OF ARTISTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21386, 14 July 1931, Page 8

PLIGHT OF ARTISTS

PLEA BY PRINCE OF WALES DIFFICULT TIMES. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, May 21. The Prince of Wales occupied the chair at the 116th anniversary dinner of the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution, on May 19, when Sir William Llewellyn referred to the Queen’s unfailing interest in the arts and artists, and said that in these-times of world-wide unrest, when all seemed changed, and when every one had to face the new’difficulties of living, artists of all kinds must be the first to suffer. It was for a return of good times and good trade that the Prince was so ardently, working to benefit his countrymen. The Prince of Wales, in his speech, remarked:— .

“ The economic life of an artist, as you all know, ■ and as I realise, is at times a precarious one. How many famous painters whose works are now recognised as masterpieces, have died in great poverty? How many eminent painters like Vermeer, for example, have had to part with their pictures in order to meet the immediate demands of the butcher or baker? How many of their pictures have crossed the Atlantic? and for a sum with "which the artist could have bought the whole city ofi Rotterdam, with Delft and Haarlem thrpwn in! ’’—(Laughter.) “ At all times, too, the artists’ fortunes are subject to the "fluctuations of that psychological thing called taste. Imagine the feelings of Sartorius, for example, had he seen his picture of the old Berkeley huntsman, in his yellow coat, knocked down by Mr Hannen* for £SOOO. — (Laughter.) Imagine our grandfathers’ feelings at the ridiculous sums of money, which mid-Victorian favourites fetch nowadays. The changes are so. swift in the life of those who are painting.” DEATH DUTIES AND TAXATION. “ Unfortunately," Icamidt paint at all, so that everything I say is supposition. I am afraid there are a great many artists ■who at the present time find their work duly hung on the line, as it should he. but who do not always have their pictures bought. It is unnecessary for me before such an audience to enumerate the difficulties with which artists have even in normal times to contend. . We cannot close our eyes to the .fact that in the present world-wide economic crisis artistic work becomes more than ever under the heading of a luxury. Ihefe may still be in the United States a few wealthy patrons of the arts who have not had to rule luxuries out of their budgets, but they as a rule concentrate when they can afford to do so, upon the old masters, and that does not help the contemporary artist in his struggle for his dailv bread. In this country the majority of those people who appreciate good picT tures have lone since been forced by death duties and taxation to sell rather than to buy. The situation with which artists are faced nowadays, the situation of the present dearth of commissions, means ruin to many artists whose resources are quickly exhausted and who are unable to meet their rent or afford the barest necessities of existence. It was to help such cases that this benevolent institution was founded over 100 years ago, and its need was never greater than it is today.” „ : , ... . H.R.H. appealed to all who liked pictures to spare what they could to assist , the institution to carry on without, stmt the admirable work it had done for so long. , . Mr E. Guy Dawber (treasurer) an- *- nounced that a total of £5077 had been collected by the stewards, and in addition . an anonymous donor had given him £IOOO during the evening, making a total of 46077. , , - " Lord Desborough thanked the of Wales for presiding.

In his book “ Scalpel, Sword, and Stretcher,” Colonel Robert J. Blackham, M.D., tells a good story of Dean Swift, the great satirist, who ended his tragic career in the deanery of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. Dean Swift took shelter from a thunderstorm under'a tree in St. Stephen’s Green, in Dublin, and there he found a young couple in great distress. They were on their way to be married in a neighbouring church, and the latest hour .when weddings could be celebrated was at hand, but there was no prospect of reaching the church in time, owing” to the storm, which showed no signs of abatement. The poor prospective bride was in tears, but, as they happened to be Protestants, the Dean came to the rescue. He read the marriage service over them, and, tearing the fly-leaf from his prayer book, gave them 4 their marriage lines in the following verse: —