ARTISTS AND MODERN CONDITIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3911, 26 February 1929, Page 60

ARTISTS AND MODERN CONDITIONS.

WOMEN R.A.’s.

PICTURES AND POSTERS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 21.

Sir William Llewellyn, the new president of the Royal Academy, in an interview, made the accompanying interesting comments: “ English art at present is in a most healthy condition. After a period of pursuit of strange forms in several quarters, it is settling into more normal yet vital channels. The strange methods have, no doubt, done good. They have shaken up ideas and given new life both to the practice and criticism of painting. But where the present movements are tending I, naturally, cannot say. I think English art one of the finest today. Women have come greatly to the front since I first entered the Academy. They take part much more seriously than in the days when so many merely played at painting water-colours. It is quite likely that we shall soon have some women R.A.’s. Already we have three as A.R.A.’s.

“ Some posters are as good as many pictures which you see in exhibitions. Naturally, they are meant to attract attention and state their pictorial facts with a certain boldness.” When the art historian comes to write about this he will not be able to afford to ignore the poster and the attraction it has had for some of the leading artists of the day. It is one branch of art which shows the utmost vitality. “ Conditions of life have changed. The public nowadays do not buy so many pictures. They live differently. There is more hotel life to-day, and there are the counter-attractions of motor cars, gramophones, wireless, and so on. Artists of necessity seek new ways of earning a living.” WORKS OF ART ON HIRE. This matter of getting artists and the public more into touch has engaged much attention, and several suggestions to solve it have been recently made, one of which Sir William singled out for comment. It was the suggestion that pictures should be hired out for a year or less to shareholders at a reasonable rent. He thought it an experiment worth trying, though he foresaw many obstacles to its smooth working.