MACKELVIE PICTURES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 112, 14 May 1931, Page 11

MACKELVIE PICTURES

NEW PURCHASES HUNG GREAT SIZE OF COLLECTION. HALF THE GALLERY' NEEDED. ’ Comprising 134 paintings, 81 in oil— 1 -0 being of really large dimensions—] the collection of pictures bought for the Mackelvie Trust in Europe last year by Air. E. W. Pay ton has been hung and now occupies actually more than half tiie available wall space in the Mackelvie section of the Art Gallery, states the N.Z. Herald. In addition, about IUO etchings are to be housed in the room used by tho City Council for loan exhibitions. Tho entire jjurchasc is expected to be opened for public inspection in about a fortnight. Whatever well-earned praise Mr. Pay ton's choice of pictures may receive from informed opinion in Auckland, there is no room for doubt that the worst fears regarding the size of the purchase have been realised. To make room for the oils and a few of the water-colours tho older of the two Mac kelvie galleries has been completely cleared and 30 of the water-colours have overflowed into the new’er one. Of the displaced pictures the best have been removed to the newer gallery, wl.ich is now overcrowded, and the others have been put into storage. Con sidering the cramped accommodation enjoyed by the trust, and the small hope of obtaining a new gallery in the I.car future, it is naid to avoid the cjncluiion that in •’ize the new pu<‘ch:.‘.e is utterly excess.vc Hopes and F?ars • ustafied.

Now that the pictures, by courtesy of the trustees, are available lor private inspection, it can be said unhesitatingly that local artists and art lovers will tin 1 both their hopes and fears justified. The collection contains some first-class works which will long be numbered among the city a most sht-i--ished pojsossions. Many more will be of great technical interest to art students. O 1 the other hand, there are dozens which may bo fairly considered to lack any special merit or significance that could justify their purchase for an already overcrowded gallery in a country remote from the centres of the world’s art. Connoisseurs and the general public alike will thank Mr. Payton sincerely for the fine and really representative painting by Frank Brangwyn, R.A., which leads the whole collection. It is a bold design of sawyers at work in a grove of majestic trees outside the white walls of an old French city. Brangwyn is already represented by a small work in tho city gallery, but the new acquisition is more than fully war ranted. On the same wall are two small nudes, masterfully painted in a broad stylo by Philip Connard, A.R.A., and W. G. Do Glchn respectively. Modern British work of this kind can hold its place with the world’s best and will probably be even more esteemed a cen tni'v flinti ii is to-d:iv. IlilDlill

(hero is also anotTer picture by each <». the artists mentiorcd. Few Outstanding Names. A. noteworthy British landscape isbyi S. J. Lanioriia Birch, it represents an abandoned quarry with a pool at its, bottom and a green distance beyond. In the same section are a charming Jit- 1 tic snow scene, with figures, by » s irj John Lavery, and a tour de force by H. Davis Richter in the sh.ip ? of a brilliant little initrior. With lii.i't and a few others such Stanhope Forbes and T. C. Got ch, the list of well-known names in the English art world comes to an end. 'The visitor will look in vain fur work by such outstanding contemporary figures as Sir William Orpcn, •'igustus John, Dame Laura Knight, Sir Charles Holmes, Mrs. Dod Proctor. Richard Sickert, William Waleot, C. K. Nevin son, "William Nicholson, or, among the water-colourists, W. Russell Flint. It is easy to pay too much homage t<» great names, but it may well be asked wdiy more of the men and women who are acknowledged leaders in the art of to-day aro not represented even by minor works. Considering their limit cd gallery space, Air. Payton and the trustees need have Lad no hesitancy in confining their purchases to “star turns,” even if they could buy but few of them. Another point of importance is that Mr. Payton, while admitting some examples of unusual technique, has ruled out, the whole modernist school with a merciless hand. With all its faults the modern experimental movement is very] much alive, mid cannot be ignored. 'J'o include, w'.thout prejudice, a few goo'll examples, wonl<l have been at least in I sti'Uiixi and might have town some] .1 ' the new school 's ach ; ements in] il'vihm ami decorative design. The Victorian Manner. i>ii the other hand, Mr. Payton has; ol'ti 11 been willing to hark back to \ ic-! torianism, although to his credit ho has] axoided the subject-picture. A good] i xample is a largo painting of horses ami men by Ihe well-known Lucy. Kemp-W (di h. This will greatly please many vi<ilol >. However, it belongs to < school already ovei represented in the Alackehic cullei.lion and the wisdom

' The inclusion of a snow scene on | Mount Kosciusko, by Will Ashton, raises the question why it should be | necessary for the trustees to go to Lon- • ch i’. to buy Australian art. A large so .d ion is devoted to 16 oils uiid four water-colours by members of ’ the Cornish, 01 “Newlyn,’-’ school of ‘ painters. it is questionable whether this group ir. ily deserves so much con- • sideration. Its influence has waned much of late and the term “school*’ ' has almost ceased to fit it. A street • scene by the veteran Stanhope Forbes, ' A.R.A., however, is one of the liveliest. I ami most satisfying works in the whole collection At the same time the three ‘ largest w »rks in the section arc disap ■ pointing, one particularly. ' The Scottish section, comprising 17 j i oils. 10 water-colours and one pastel. • scarcely fulfils expectations. A study of a steamer at a loch wharf on a grey day, by George Houston, is a sound piece, of work, and some other shipping 1 subjects arc good, but much less is very commonplace. Large French Canvases. ; The French section of two do.on pic-1 lures contains a proportion of really stimulating works, notably a snow I scene by Broquet-Leon and a bold study Jin purple ami green of seaweed gather- ! ers, by Andre Prevost Valerie. The i section contains the th:<z bug' -’ pic [lures in the whole coll t.’oa, but un i fortunately their size is in no way , i ommensurate with their merit. I Tin* English water colours in the : other gallery are not, as interesting as • might, be expected. A vigorous picture i in pure wash of schoolgirls, by Anna i Viry, stands out. far in front, of the ' rest. Some of the small landscapes are , I hardly up to ordinary New Zealand ! standard. ' Special mention should be made oi I two delicately tinted nudes in attitudes | of sleep, one French, by-Xavier Bricard, [and the other English, by E. E. Hodge. Those help tn fill a long standing deli-ciem-v in the Mackelvie. collection.