A NEW ZEALAND ARTIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 3829, 2 August 1927, Page 53

A NEW ZEALAND ARTIST.

EXHIBITION IN LONDON. LONDON, June 1. Mr Cranleigh Barton, tho New Zealand artist, has been on one of his periodical tours of Europe and has brought back a large collection of water colour sketches, the result of an unusual industry. His route on this occasion was through tho Chateaux country, down to Bordeaux, and the French side of the Pyrenees to Provence; along the French Riviera to central Italy. Chioggia, Venice, and back by way of Northern Italy. He is now showing at the Graham Galleries a collection of the works done on the tour, together with a number of his earlier ones painted in England, New Zealand, and Samoa. It is possible to observe in this collection the progress Mr Barton has made during tho past year or two. In his last group, especially thosepainted in Italy, he displays greater maturity and finish in his work. Ho is using subdued tones to great; advantage and producing pictures which are more than mere photographic effects. Mr Barton was fortunate in finding Chioggia, a Venice on a small scale, without the tourists. He has a dozen sketches of the canals and old buildings of this quaint old town, all of which become more and more attractive the more one examines them. In spito of the bright sunshine of Italy, Mr Barton found that the shadows were not deeply contrasted, owing to reflection from the grey walls of the buildings. Thus he was able to obtain the subdued effect which is such an attraction of his latest pictures. Other works deal with scenes in Lourdes, Cannes, Cagnes, Toulon, Bayonne, Florence, and Venice, and a large number of other Continental places unfamiliar to tho average person. A greater regard for detail is seen in work depicting parts of cathedrals at Rheims, Venice, Chioggia, Winchester, and Canterbury. London scenes include “The Thames, Winter,” “The Marble Arch,” “Oxford Street,” “The Bank,” “Hyde Park Corner,” and “Trafalgar Square” An earlier stage of the artist’s work is I represented by a group of about two' dozen New Zealand scenes taken in such I places as the Bay of Islands, Whangarei, Mount Egmont, Rotorua, Auckland, the Wanganui River, and Christchurch. A picture of Wanganui River was the first of the collection to be sold on the first} day of the exhibition. There are 111 1 sketches in the collection, and naturally 1 not all these will bo sold. Mr Barton, therefore, intends to hold an exhibition in New Zealand, to which he hopes to pay a visit at the end of the year.