BRITISH ART

Southland Times, Issue 22216, 8 January 1934, Page 4

BRITISH ART

The distance separating Great Britain from New Zealand never appears greater than when we read of an art exhibition such as that which was opened at Burlington House on Saturday. In this Piccadilly treasury of art there have been assembled after two years of patient and industrious canvassing the greatest pictures scattered in the homes and art galleries of Britain. Burlington House is at all times the repository for many famous paintings, and it is there that each year the Royal Academy holds its exhibition. But more representative of the art of all the ages, more magnificent than anything yet seen in London, is the collection of 1550 works which now adorn the former residence of the Earl of Burlington. The majesty of the Louvre and of the famous Italian art galleries has been apt to overshadow the rich store of paintings in England and the ravages of the depression have caused many treasures to cross the Atlantic to be hung in American homes. That there remains in private collections much of the best work of the English painters is evident from the brief details of the exhibition which have been cabled. There are on exhibit, for instance, twelve Hogarths, eighteen Turners, thirty-one Reynolds, thirtyeight Gainsboroughs and a representative array of Constables. Interest in art has been quickening in Britain in recent years and this exhibition of the work of the great English artists will serve both as a stimulus and an inspiration to the students of to-day and will be of great cultural value to the nation at large. Possibly the day is not far distant when New Zealand and other dominions will, through the generosity and Imperialism of British collectors, be privileged to hold an exhibition of many of the superb paintings which are now gathered in Burlington House.