NATURE’S HANDIWORK

Southland Times, Issue 20002, 16 October 1926, Page 2

NATURE’S HANDIWORK

AND THAT OF MAN. A VICE-REGAL PLEA. That an artist is inclined to go rather far afield in the search for his subject, and so to overlook much that is beautiful in his own country; that many glorious panoramas of mountain and of sea are spoiled through the mere thoughtlessness of man, were the dominant notes sounded by his Excellency the Governor-General (Sir Charles Fergusson), when opening the annual exhibition of the New, Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington last week. “I can assure you that I accept the invitation of the president to take part in the opening of this exhibition with the greatest pleasure,” said his Excellency. “It is not my intention to deliver a dissertation on art. But I would like to say that those who, like myself, are quite ignorant of the technique of the artist, can still take an enormous amount of interest in such an exhibition as this, for though we are not critics of art, we are lovers of the beautifuL “When I go to an exhibition of pictures I often hope that I will find on the wall some piece of scenery, some beauty spot, with which I am personally familiar, because I think that we who have not the artists acquaintance with art take pleasure in the subject rather than in the art itself. And it seems to me that here in New Zealand we have such a wealth of beautiful landscapes that we have not far to look for beauty, while in the environs of Wellington we may see beautiful scenery that is not to be surpassed.” Continuing, his Excellency remarked that one of the grievances he had against the artist was that he tended to overtook those beautiful scenes with which he was surrounded every day, and went to some other country to find a subject worthy of his effort and of his art.

“I hope,” said his Excellency, “that this exhibition will have the effect of educating the public mind to an appreciation and a love of the beautiful. What is in my mind is this—that so often in this country, as, no doubt, jn other countries as well, we find most beautiful landscapes ruined by the hand of man. I am thinking not only of the advertising hoardings, which so often, in my opinion, disfigure the landscapes of our country, because that in itself is art, though I think art mis-applied. I am thinking more of instances in which the most beautiful scenes, the most beautiful landscapes, are ruined by what I think 1 maycall thoughtless damage. One sees a long panorama of hillside disfigured by the cutting up of ridges, beautiful in themselves, into quarries. One sees a hillside with a most beautiful background of mountains, and on the top of it is placed a building which cuts off that beautiful background forever. One sees on every side some obelisk or some block of masonry which could be placed elsewhere, and with less injury to the scenery with which it is surrounded. “I think,” concluded his Excellency, “that if this society succeeds in educating the people to realise the beauties of this country, it will not only justify its existence, but will earn the gratitude of countjesK fixture generations,’*