LACKS IMAGINATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 963, 5 May 1930, Page 9

LACKS IMAGINATION

ACADEMY IS FIELD FOR BUSY CRITICS MODERN VIEWS OF LIFE United T.A. —By Telegraph—Copyright Reed. 10.10 a.m. LONDON, Sunday. The Royal Academy which opens on Monday comprises 1,669 exhibits and includes a notable display of portraits, among which is a stately portrait of Queen Mary by David Jagger. Otherwise, critics agree, the pictures generally do not differ in character or quality from those of recent years. There is tile

usual display of skill, but no striking display of imagination. The most discussed picture is Mark Symon’s: “Were you there when they cruci--1 my Lord?” The crucifixion scene is re-enacted in a modern setting depicting the reac-

tions of human character. A top-hat-ted crowd jeers, a few women are hysterical and men with faces twisted into sneers crowd around, while in the background is a public house and a church. An unorthodox subject is John Keating’s “Homo Sapiens.” This is a satire on human progress. Surrounded by symbols of law, learning, glory and religion, on his head a tin hat awry, in his hands a gasmask, sits a modern mail waiting the terror of Death from the skies. Sir John Lavery has painted Lord Melchett. The Duke of York responded to the toast of the Royal Family at Saturday night’s Acaderiiy banquet. The Academy certainly is a social success, judging from the groups of prominent people animatedly discussing everything. Artisticallq, some critics declare, it Is boring. A vast army of artists, whose work was rejected, describe it as a farce. The “Daily Herald” unequivocably describes it as the worst Academy since the war.