APPRECIATION OF ART

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22833, 18 March 1936, Page 6

APPRECIATION OF ART

ADDRESS BY MR H. V. MILLER The first of a series of addresses on “Appreciation of Art,” under the auspices of the Workers’ Educational Association, was given at the Otago University last evening by Mr H. V. Miller. The speaker, who illustrated his lecture very fully with lantern-slides, said that works of art fell into three classes —those which satisfied the mind alone and had no obvious useful purpose; those which did serve some actual use; and those which were a combination of both. Paintings belonged to this first class. To judge a picture it was necessary to get to know it and then its really good qualities would appear. If it had no merit it would soon cither come to be ignored or would actually tend to annoy. Pictures could not be judged properly at an exhibition where each was jostled by its neighbours and the qualities of the quiet one were overshadowed by those of another more striking. The former, hung in a quiet room, might well lend a dignity to its surroundings.

Dealing with water colours, Mr Miller went into the detail of the workmanship involved. He described in some detail the materials used and went on to apeak of the manner in which the paint should bo applied in order to obtain one effect or another. He outlined the peculiar characteristics of the work of John Sell Cotraan, whom ho described as one of the earliest of water colour painters, and contrasted it with that of Turner, who had at one stage'endeavoured to obtain effects which could have been more successfully secured with oils. Passing to the subject of oil painting, the speaker said that this medium of expression might be divided into five styles—smooth painting such as was done on board treated to present a very fine surface; smooth painting on canvas; clear strokes with a broad brush; blending of fine spots of colour to obtain brilliant effects; and palette knife painting. Each method was used for its own particular effect and each depended on the individuality of the artist for its success.

Though the study of these methods was an aid to the appreciation of the artist as a skilled workman, it was not sufficient merely to note the technique of the painter. It was necessary to penetrate deeper, past the paint, into the things the artist had expressed with it. The painter tried to give expression to his feelings in respect to his subject, and this might be done in a variety of ways. The direction of the lines in a picture provided a certain result in this respect. Lines tending diagonally from the bottom left portion to the top right portion resulted in a feeling of uplift, while a heavy top and smallness in the lower portion gave a picture a sombre effect. Even more important was colour. Consciously or unconsciously, the artist combined his colours to express happiness, warmth, sunlight or coldness, sadness and depression.

Each painter, said Mr Miller in conclusion, aimed to create something, and in order to appreciate that, it was necessary to find what the artist had intended to convey. Only by sympathetic and interested inspection could such appreciation be achieved.