NEW ART GALLERY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 298, 16 December 1931, Page 7

NEW ART GALLERY.

Board of Control May be Set Up. COLLECTION OF PICTURES. No steps have yet been taken by the City Council to decide the manner in which the new Art Gallery will be controlled. The gallery will be completed by February 29 and before the end of the year, the committee which has been responsible for the building arrangements will have a meeting to discuss the preliminaries in connection with the opening ceremony and the permanent maintenance of the gallery. The site of the gallery has been vested in the City Council by Act of Parliament and the council, although responsible for the erection of the gallery, appointed a committee, consisting of representatives of the council and the Art Society, together with Mr R. E}. McDougall, whose gift of £25,000 made the erection of the gallery possible, to attend to the details of the construction. It is anticipated that the City Council will appoint a board to control the gallery when it is completed. It has been suggested that the board should be controlled of an equal number of representatives of the council and the Art Society, with Mr McDougall as an additional member. In the meantime, the collection of pictures given to the new gallery is growing. A fortnight ago, Mr P. R. Sargood, of Dunedin, offered to lend two oils by Quinquela Martin, the leading Argentine artist, for a period of three months. There are about 100 paintings in the Jamieson collection, which at present hangs in the hall at Canterbury College and these are available for the new gallery. The following pictures have also been presented to the' gallery:—“Le Lecture de la Bible,” by Henrietta Brown, given by Mr R. E. McDougall; “ The Swing,” by Norman Lindsay, given by Mr G. Seviclce-Jones; “Marseilles,” by Owen Merton, given by Miss H. L. Greig; “ Nasturtiums,” by Ida Carey, given by Mr G. Humphreys; “ The Drover,” by R. Wallwork, given by Mr G. Humphreys. The Society for Imperial Culture has also purchased a picture for the new gallery and this will be handed over when the gallery is opened. The Canterbury Society of Arts has decided to give to the new gallery any of the pictures in its permanent collection, provided that the society is given an adequate share in the control of the new gallery.