THE EXHIBITION ART GALLERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3768, 1 June 1926, Page 67

THE EXHIBITION ART GALLERY.

The Art Gallery interested me more flian any other single department of the Exhibition, and I should have liked to spend much more time examining its treasures and studying those that specially pleased me than I was actually able to do. As one went through the numerous separate galleries more at leisure the merits of the whole display grew on one; pictures unnoticed at first claimed attention, and the meaning and the artistic merits of others which one had noted with various degrees of admiration were more adequately grasped. All interested in art will feel the warmest satisfaction that so many of the exhibits, owing to the enterprise of local organisation and the liberality of private citizens, are to become part of the permanent art collection of Dunedin. And —though this is not quite decided while 1 write—it is to be expected that this will in future be housed in the Exhibition Art Gallery. As a new Art Gallery is much needed it would seem a sad waste not to use the building so well designed for the purpose, but convert it into dressing sheds for sports bodies! Among the works acquired for the city are several of my own special favourites. One of these is the fine bronze bust of Lord Lister, renowned for his discoveries of antiseptic methods in surgery, which is to be placed in the University. It is a wonderfully expressive portrait in bronze, the fine head and the countenance marked by the lines of time and thought. “There is sadness, too, as if the pain of the world, of which the great healer must have known so much, had weighed heavily on him. Among the pictures acquired is one that seems to ine one of the very best in the exhibition by reason of its deep human feeling, and perfect truth-

fulness ot execution—“ The Unskilled Labourer,” the work of an artist with v no letters after his name, Harold Speed. A middle-aged grey-haired man in workman’s dress looks up from the newspaper he holds in his hand—a copy of the Daily Mail—and the expression of profound sadness and hopelessness in the countenance, and, above all, the eyes, bring home to one the tragedy of existence for so many thousands under our -present economic system. We may suppose that he is out of work, and that what he has read in the paper threatens continuation of unemployment. It is the greatest of all the triumphs of art to reveal the human soul in a countenance, and to give visible expression to the deepest and truest things of life. The large painting, “This for Remembrance,” by Sir Frank Dicksee, which 1 noticed in a last year’s sketch of the Exhibition art display, is * a most masterly example of emotion portrayed on convas, and a most pathetic ami beautiful picture. A notable distinction of the Exhibition display is that it contained only work by living artists, and thus gave, opportunity for observing new methods of painting. There were not, however, many examples of the more eccentric of modern art schools. 1 noticed t.,0 or three which 1 suppose were “cubist” achievements; one was a landscape of dubious sort, in which the most noticeable thing was hard-outlined oblongish forms, presumably meant for clouds. On my first visit last year I was struck by the cruds colours of a good many of the landscapes; violent blues and purples in sea and sky and hill effects particularly. There seemed little to choose between them, and the vividlypainted scenic backgrounds o the Colonial Courts, particularly the Auckland and Canterbury ones. (1 noticed that the Southland scenic backgrounds were in quieter and more natural tones). Naturally the more glaring and exaggerated paintings first struck the eye, but they constituted only a small minority of the landscapes, many of which were beautifully harmonious in colouring, showing the subtle gradations of nature. One of the “modern” variety was noticeable for its sky, put in with fair-sized oblongish blocks of green, blue, lavender, and pink. Viewed at the right distance the colours blended together into the semblance of a sky at sunset, or sunrise. But in the Exhibition there were scores of skies just as effective—or more so—at a distance, and which would also bear close inspection, so I, for one, was not impressed by this new departure in art. Among the large oil landscapes that required to be viewed at a tolerable distance was the very effective “Glade of Blue Hyacinths,” which was placed in the central British gallery. The fine landscape “Equihen,” the largest picture in the show, is among those acquired for Dunedin, as ’s “Mid summer Dawn” by a woman artist. Miss Kate Clausen. The sky is striding and beautiful, but the effect of the picture is marred, to me, by the odd and ungraceful forms of the trees in Ae foreground. Another of the largs paintings acquired for Duuedin is om which was shown in the American gallery, “Snow Mantle.” It shows a clearing in woods with snow on the ground and tree*. The remarkable thing about it is that the snow is very much *uore blue than white, and very vivid blue, too. Of course I know that one must allow for effects of light and shade, and that it may be . permissible to heighten natural effects to impress them on the spectator of a picture. But I think heightening ot

natural effects should be practised with restraint, and it seems to me that the artist here has grossly exaggerated. 1 cannot be persuaded that fallen snow would ever look so blue to a normal eye. So this is not one of the pictures which pleased me most, but 1 mention it, S as it is to remain here, so that there will be plenty of opportunity for people to fonn their own opinions as to its artistic merits and its fidelity—or the reverse—to nature. Among landscapes that pleased me by their truthfulness and their harmonious colouring were “Toward the Setting Sun." ‘‘Silence and Shadows,’’ and “New England Wastes” in the American gallery, and “Afternoon” and “Australian Summer” in the Australian.

Of the figure studies “The Sisters,” in the central British gallery, struck the eye at first entrance. I did not care for this picture at first. The straight outlines of the black dress cut in modern style, of the standing girl and of her wide brimmed black hat, produced an effect of hardness and angularitv that did not please me. But closer inspection revealed the delicacy of painting, the perfect finish of the gracefully moulded hands and arms of the two girls, the softness of the flesh tints, the accuracy of detail in the clothing and accessories, including a feather held bv the sitting girl. In the American gallery “Nan, painted in quite a different style, was a picture that grew on one—very young girl, perhaps fifteen or so, slim and straight, with delicate face with pointed chin and a sort of elusive charm in the countenance, with its hint of wistfulness or expectancy. There were a number of other pictures of girls and women that 1 admired without liking, and some that displeased me. Then there were some others that, though perhaps less notable as paintings, pleased and interested by the expression of the countenan'e As a general thing I find pictures of girls and young women, whether portraits or fancy pictures, much less interesting than pictures of nature and aged men and women. The young women so often look as if they were posing for a picture, and if the face has expression it is often not an attractive one. self-satisfied, per haps, or disdainful. In truthfully painted pictures of elderly and aged people vou see character and the impress of life’s experiences. In the French gallery, nothing pleased me so much as a small dark-toned picture called “Fileuse’ it he spinner). Tt represented an old French woman sitting by her fireside spinning with a distaff. A picture in one of the British rooms entitled “Oh for the Touch of a Vanished Hand’’ was most touching in its presentment of lonelv old age —a very aged man sitting alone by his cottage fireside. It was by a woman artist. Miss Flora Reid.

Two. or three of the most striking pictures, showing a number of figures in action, were by women artists. There was Miss Anna Airey’s “Error in Pav.” which, if any one doubts woman’s power of vigorous execution, will convince them that there s may be nothing to choose in strength between a man and a woman's work. "A Fair,” bv Mrs Laura Knight, one of the water colours, was an example of vigorous workmanship. The French room was aglow' with light and colour. The pictures, of fairly uni form size—there were no large ones—really filled the walls, contrast to the larger American room adjoining, where fcnere was much vacant space. To iudge by this display, French painters must be fond of colour and of effects of bright lights. There were two similar half-length studies of a smiling-faced girl—evidentlv painted from the same model—which shone from the walls. The affect of strong light on the figures had been caught to perfection. But the two figure studies that pleased me most were small and unol trusive: that, I mentioned before, of an old spinning woman in provincial peasant attire and high cap sitting by her fireside, and another similar one of an old peasant womaii of Brittany. I like their homeliness and truthfulness. “The Old Sardine Worker” in the Scotch gallerv pleased me similarly. Among the Ne' Zealand water colours Mrs Claude Sawtell’s “Reminiscences” made a strong impression through the expressiveness of the countenance portrayed.

No two people viewing a number of works of art will agree precisely in the opinions of them. Here lam merely saying what I liked, and indicating why I iiked it. Not having more than ordinary knowledge of art, -nd not having made nearly such a full examination of the Exhibition display as it deserved, I have no authority to speak as a critic. Mv views are worth no more than those of hundreds of other people similarly circumstanced, but they are sincere and unbiassed.