SOME PICTURES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 227, 7 January 1911, Page 8

SOME PICTURES

MR. BABBAGE'S EXHIBITION. To-day there will be exhibited in the sample rooms of Mr. Hooker, in Egmont street, upwards of one hundred oil and water-color sketches of unusual merit.. The majority of these paintings are the work of Mr. Herbert Babbage, an artist whose sound technique is not less appealing\han the sympathy and simplicity with which he sets his ideas down on canvas. It is fair to say that Mr. Babbage's art belongs to no particular school, that he is confined to no cast iron ethics, no rigidly denned color scheme, and certainly no ironbound conception of treatment. The most critical person privileged to view the work of an artist who has succeeded in satisfying the Royal Academy, at once admits Mr. Babbage's gift of sympathy, his power of expressing in warmth and tone his idea of specific objects, scenes, 'scapes and incidents. In this collection there are dominant notes, making an admirer of art long to linger in the gentle glamour. Mr. Babbage is an artist first, and a seller next, and he cares less for selling than for art. He excels remarkably in depicting the soul of a scene, and it matters not whether the scene is landscape or seascape. In Mr. Babbage's exhibited landscapes the real '•atmosphere" is most notable. There is no "inj sanity of pigmentation," as a very great R.A. once expressed it. Mr. Baggage's work is essentially sane, well balanced, understanding, adequate. He paints rock and seashore, sky and tree, because he loves to set them down. He seizes a delightful bit of Continental or Cornish architecture with the avidity of an unsatisfied artistic gourmand. The only point of importance to the buyer of a picture is that the picture "lives," that it' does not annoy, that it expresses the idea of an artist whose ideas are worth while, and—that it is worth the money. After a careful survey of a notable group of sketches—many of which arc of New Zealand scenery—one concludes that it is a sin to permit any one of the delightful series to leave New Plymouth. (iTimpses of the Continent there are, hallowed by the refining inlluence of an artist's brush; sweet sylvan scenes in peaceful England will bring to the mind's eye of many the incomparable rcstfulness of the' wonderful Homeland. The difficult phases of New Zealand scenery are here explained with a warmth that adds charm, and a suggestion of life that is sometimes lacking. Quaintness appeals to this artist, and so he revels in an odd canvas in the glories of quaint architecture—so loving to paint—odd buttresses and novel angles. People who know will welcome the paintings of Mr. Babbage, and will strive to retain them. Interspersed with the groups are striking samples of the work of Miss Corry, a local artist, whose forte is the wonderful expression of architectural grandeur—a phage of art not common, and certainly highly gratifying in these days of stern'and inartistic utilitarianism. Of the few pictures shown in Miss Corry's appealing collection, none are unworthy. There is atmosphere, technique, and sympathy—and the .greatest of these is atmosphere. In dismissing with regret Mr. Babbage's line collection, one has to acknowledge the power with which he paints the grandeur of rugged places. He has seized subjects in many lands, but nowhere is his talent more at home than when it is pourtraying the simple majesty of the Cornish coast, or the Cornish village. New Plymouth should not allow the Cornish pictures to escape.