ART IN NEW ZEALAND

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18536, 5 April 1930, Page 14 (Supplement)

ART IN NEW ZEALAND

THE MERYON NUMBERS. The March number of “Art in New Zealand” is a very interesting publication, being specially devoted to the work of Charles Meryon. A special article on his work is contributed by Dora Wilcox, entitled “Charles Meryon In Silhouette”; there is a poem by “C”, called “Meryon in the South”. Meryon was born in Paris in 1821. educated at Passy, and joined the French Navy in 1837. He sailed for New Zealand five years later, and was stationed for a time at Akaroa, where he did the sketches that have been reproduced in connection with Cook's voyages. As he found that he was colour blind, he

took etching as his mode of artistic expression, his greatest achievement being a series of “Eaux Forts sur Paris.” The print of L’Abside de Notre Dame,” sold in 1920, brought 61,000 francs, being the most famous of his etchings, originals of some of his New Zealand drawings are among the treasured possessions of the Turnbull Library, Wellington. In the later years of his life, Meryon’s mind gave way, and he died at the famous mental hospital at Clarenton, in 1869. A number of reproductions of his most famous works make an interesting feature of March number of “Art in New Zealand”. There are colour blocks of a decorative cupboard door in oil on Oregon pine, by R. N. Field. A.R.C.A., Dunedin; an oil painting of a scene on the Kaikoura coast; a water colour of Mt. Sefton by that veteran New Zealand artist, Miss D. K. Richmond; and a water colour sketch of “Frimley” the oldest garden in Hawke’s Bay, by Lucretia Johnson, B.N.S. Among the literary contributions are articles by John Bishop (“A Survey of Chamber Music”); Herbert Lindsay (“Concerning Colour”); poetry and poetic criticism by Joyce L. West, Gwen E. Merrett, John Dene, and Prester John. It is announced that the contents of the June number w T ill be largely devoted to the work of Owen Merton, once a well-knowm artist, much esteemed in Christchurch. Professor Shelley will contribute an article on Merton's work which should be well worth reading. Some of Merton’s earlier work is owned in Wellington.