ARTS AND CRAFTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14215, 3 June 1910, Page 7

ARTS AND CRAFTS.

THE EXHIBITION. The South Canterbury Arts and Crofts Society's exhibition is to remain open until to-morrow week. It will open every day at 11 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. School children in charge of a teacher, are to be adliutted for 3d each, and the committee hopes that air school children in South Canterbury, will be given an opportunity of seeing it. I'esterday morning twenty children from the" Gleniti school, were taken to the Exhibition, by their teacher, Mr Bannerman, and in addition to seeing all that was to be seen, the scholars were delighted with a lecture given them by the Rev. E. Hunt, on New Guinea curios. Each day, afternoon tea will be provided in the building at a charge of 6d per head, and every night a concert will be given. The exhibits were added to yesterday by some fine samples of needlework sent forward by the ladies of St. Mary's Guild, who are willing to accept orders for similar work. In the main entrance hall of the building, is a visitors book, in this a number of people have already jotted down such impressions as "a highly educative exhibition," "very good," '• excellent," " evorvthing is very interesting," etc.. The cookery competitions for aclulti and school children, will be held to-mor-row, and they are evoking considerable interest. The attendance yesterday afternoon and last night was very satisfactory and so fax the managing committee has had every cause for congratulation. Mr X." AYagstaff as general secretary, and Miss Priest, as secretary to the ladies' committee have filled their respective roles in a manner which has materially added to the general success. AMONG THE PICTURES.

Visitors to the Exhibition yesterday afternoon, preferring to see. the art galleries by daylight-, expressed surprise and pleasure at the magnitude and interest of the collection. It istoo large an exhibition to be seen at one visit, for the eye soon becomes weary if one looks at different things intently, and picture galleries provide' the material for bringing s"n such optical weariness. To merely glance intelligently at the 120 oil and 150 water colour pictures takes some time, and one nrust look at all of them to see which arc -worthy of continued attention ; and there are so many such—even a small minority among 270 must be more than a few—that a couple of hours slips away very quickly, and at the end of a first view one can have gained but a few general impressions, of the wholo collection, or of a few of the exhibits. The catalogue is a great help, though some visitors found a difficulty in the separate consecutive numbering of oils and water 0010111-5, as they opened the wrong list. The catalogue alone is a help to understanding the importance of the exliibition because of the large number of"different artists' names that appear opposite the titles of the pictures. This gives an anticipation of variety «f style, and of "some fine pictures among them surely." and in neither sense is the visitor disappointed. Naturally, tlie best pictures are to be looked for among those "lent," pictures selected at Home, painted by artists whose works have made them"famous. Needless to say, the contrast between best and worst, however roughly estimated, is a wide one; and in this respect such an exhibition as this should be of value to artists, as well as interesting to the. public. Suffice it, for the present at any rate, to say that the picture gaK leries should be visited not once but often, as a means of education in the taste for pictures, the comparisons which inevitably suggest themselves (in the absence of a connoisseur as lecturer) being the instructors. In one

of the picture rooms are cases of fine bijouterie, and among these are some beautiful miniatures that should not be missed. OTHER ART FORMS. Elsewhere there are other forms of art, in designs on the fiat and in relief, including some very creditable work in drawing for the local schools competition. There are also some really marvellous pieces of modelling, a 'couple of small terra cotta figures in the museum being examples of the latter. There is a small but excellent collection of wood carving in a side room that should not he neglected, especially because it is local work. In this museum, and elsewhere in the exhibition, there are many different kinds of artistic work which give the general impression that for their production, each of its kind, there were two «reat requisites—'-know how," and unweariaole patience in the application of the knowledge. Probablv a third requisite should be mentioned, special aptitude, though this mnv reallv be included in the "know how/' as without the aptitude to do, one could scarcely learn how to do. . '

The photographic Section is somewhat disappointing. in both ouantitv and quahty. A\ ith so manv cameras at work- ln the district, one might reasonably have expected a much larger collection of specimens. As to quality there are some fine examples of both portrait and landscape work, and a few •'animal stndics." One ofthose studies was well on the wav to being the best picture m the competition, but tlie ' lights" on the sheen are rather too pronounced.

THE FIRST SALE. • The first sale of a picture was made last night, when P. Proctor's picture '•Street in Orvieto" was sold for f-fi Gs.