ART AND THE BREEDER

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1927, 28 October 1926, Page 6

ART AND THE BREEDER

“The general -Level of appreciation of art is dedllining. It cannot be said from an actual survey of this country that 'during the last 100 years we have gained in grace and distinction. On the contrary, we have now often to go out of our way to discover the vestiges of a finer, a more harmonious 'Civilisation Ithan we can boast of to-day. Since the introduction of steam power and in its consequence, cheap labour, our country has been devastated by ithe ignoble building contractor. In spite of the many excellent architects we have, tire masses of ithe people are now forced to dwell nn houses, which their forefathers would have scorned to inhabit. The English, though a comparatively young peopile, have nothing to be ashamed of in- their artistic past; they need only blush for the betrayal of tliair admirable traditions which has taken place within the memory of our fathers and has degraded English industry to the level of a sixpenny bazaar,” —AW. Augustus John.