SCOTTISH ART.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 13 July 1923, Page 7

SCOTTISH ART.

EXHIBITION IM TIMARU. Scotland, the “land of brown heath and shaggy wood, land of the mountain and the flood,” has been mentioned as tlie artists’ paradise, and judging bv the specimens from the hand of Miss M- C. Berry, Scottish Society .of Arts, at present cm view in the window of J. Radclille, Beswick Street, there is much scope for the artistic temperament. Miss Berry does not eomo to Timaru unaccredited, but did she possess nothing but the samples of her art such v.ere crecteutiais enougli. In. the twenty odd pictures on view there is a pleasing variety ot theme. The dignified, though - probably sombre, grandeur of “Ben Nevis from Spcan Bridge,” with its eternally snowelad summit just visible through a veil of mist, is no /ess artistically treated than is the bright, cheerful-looking picture of Loch Katrine in spring mantle. The artist’s portrayal of “Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire,” is an outstanding feature for its exactitude ot detail, the wave effect being strikingly done; while aerial perspective is another artistic accomplishment clearly deli nod in the painting, “Edinburgh from Starleyburn.” “A Highland winding” is another clover theme of the lonely, .sod-built cot on the wild hillside; and an. interior of the shieling is yet another triumph of dignity of conception and technique. Portraiture is a department of the art in which Miss Berry has gained much proficiency, and her work displays a high order of merit. In the several studies exhibited she gained a striking likeness and a delicacy of expression which hold the observer.

A really interesting work is the historic surrender of the German licet in the Firth of Forth. Miss Berry was commissioned by the French Government to record on canvas this historic event in the World "War, and right skilfully did she execute that duty. Huge battleships loom up, grey and ghostly. through a. greyer mist and sea, the sullen grandeur of the ominous clouds refuses to give way to the partly penetrating sun: and altogether the picture gives rise to a wealth of deepest thought. The collection is a varied one of portrait, landscape and. seascape, which give a delightful peep of a country that in many respects resemble:; Mow Zealand, there arc glens bathed in warm sunshine, and mountains where l:ho mist trails in fantastic eerieness at evening; and the historic spires of Kdinluirg’i raise their heads in Iho distance, seen from shady bowers that overlook flic capital Tim exhibition is well worth seeing. Miss Borrv will be in Timaru for the next ten days.