The Daily News MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1929. ART AND FRIENDSHIP.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1929, Page 8

The Daily News MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1929. ART AND FRIENDSHIP.

| The great exhibition of Italian art which is to be opened in London this week has been organised for two very important purposes. The more obvious is, of course, to foster interest in art, but the more important is to promote international friendship on an intellectual basis. During recent years several very successful exhibitions have been held in Europe, though not on such a grand scale as that attained by the combination of British effort and Italian co-operation. A few months ago London had a wonderful exhibition of Dutch art, and then British paintings were sent on loan to Brussels, where they created a very favourable impression upon the Belgian people. An eminent Belgian was quoted in a London newspaper as having said that the display had made a real contribution to the better understanding of the two peoples. The British and the Belgians will not easily forget the bond of war sacrifice which links them, but their intercourse is based largely on industrial and commercial relationships,' as is the case with most nations, and intercourse of this nature does not always help peoples to understand each other. Many Belgians probably learned for the first time when they visited the exhibition at Brussels the extent of Britain’s devotion to art. “This is an openair school,” one Belgian critic remarked in the course of his comments on certain English pictures. “English artists and English I poets seem to be intoxicated with the love of nature.” To many of those who read them these words would show the British people in a new light. A people that can produce artists who worship the beautiful and are able to reproduce it on canvas will not be regarded any longer as “ a nation of shopkeepers.” The exhibition soon to be opened in London will serve an admirable purpose if it brings British and Italians closer together. In the highest circles that purpose indeed has been achieved already. The King of Italy and Signor Mussolini and the Pope have all interested themselves in the collection of the works of art worth millions of pounds that are about to be displayed in the finest exhibition ever known. For the first time many English people will be able to see the handiwork of some of the greatest masters the world has had. Hitherto only those who could afford to go abroad and visit the wonderful galleries of Florence, the magnificent cathedrals and the splendid palaces have been privileged to look upon the famous originals of which we have all heard so much. The revelation of their beauties to a far larger circle in England will be an education. The kindness shown by the authorities in lending their treasures must be accepted as an evidence of friendship, and England and Italy must be brought into closer relation. Moreover, the exhibition will emphasise the truth that the really great artist and his work belong, not to one nation, but to the world. Art can be made a powerful agency for the promotion of international goodwill, and such exhibitions as London is about to enjoy give it its opportunity.