Mr Baxter's Show.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20277, 11 April 1934, Page 6

Mr Baxter's Show .

An Art Exhibition

Glimpses of Continental Journeys. Under a foggy sunset Lor£on glowed Like one huge cob-webbed flagon of old wine . . . THE THAMES BARGES lay idly in the lap of the mother of England's waterways; a Bankside that Shakespeare would have known only dimly, clung in drowsy loveliness upon the skirts of old St Paul's snd the sun slid down behind the furled sail of a lonely boat on a pale river in Kent—these inspired moments of England in h*»r most ethereal moods have been tipped out of Mr Alfred Baxter's portfolio to move us to thoughts and dreams of the quiet riches of the Old World. With them in the Fisher Galleries are charming smiling Continental memories from the artist’s facile brush. Like misty England. “ The Castle in Old Heidelberg ” suggests the faery-folk traditions of the river tow’n. but the soft atmosphere that veils the red old castle does not hang too often over the artist’s palette. He lives in a world of light with solid form and colour and clear, liquid depths. One could imagine oneself passing in meditative peace from the crumbling " Old Doorw’ay in Rothenburg ” upon a Bohemian journey. Reverence and delight accompany one down the street of mediaeval gabled houses, so truly “ Old Rothenburg ” to the tower “ Entrance Gate ” of the same town. This brief excursion with but three pictures is enough to show that one is with an honest painter. And thus to Heidelberg on the Necker and St Goar on the Rhine. This is the Rhine of legend and reality, and the castle in the wooded spur at the bend of the river is as faithful as the products of these other excursions are true to their separate localities. The “ Grand Canal, Venice ” is part of a shining city, cheerfully, delicately companionable, without fantasy where fantasy might be forgiven, and for that the more satisfying. For although the artist slips sometimes into a Turneresque joy in the sun he captures the substance of light upon Venetian walls with a forthright clarity. From gondola days on the old canal one passes to Gerona, Spain, and here one is detained by two pictorial recollections while one rests on a hillside through a warm-tinted morning, till the changing day has turned the distant hills to blue ramparts. “As the hen gathers her chickens under her wing ” so that monastery of the valley gathers the humble stucco dwellings within the wall.

But for the artist on the Continent ail roads lead to Concarneau, and Concameau means one thing—fishing boats. Mr Baxter worked hard in this picturesque harbour. He drew and painted the boats and the sea—and boats are not easy to draw —apparently determined that they should win the honoured place they are quickly finding now in Christchurch homes. “The Inner Harbour ” was exhibited at the Paris Salon, and this, like “ Concarneau from the Ramparts,” is a masterful apologia for the popularity of the fishing village among artists. B.E.S.