VIVIAN SMITH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 41, 19 February 1943, Page 3

VIVIAN SMITH

ALL-ROUND ARTIST (By H.C.J.) Vivian Smith is an artistic allrounder. He is equally at home in water-colour, in cnarcoal, and in oils, it would surprise nobody if he were to produce some etchings. Should he decide to do so he would produce good ones. As a master at the Wanganui Technical College he has gathered around him a body of promising adult pupils and if this class keeps together ne will have some worth-while student \vork to exhibit from his studio which will be of interest. But it is in his work as an individual artist that he is of interest to the visitor to the Sarjeant Gallery. His versatility is here displayed in his contributions to each section. He is a good supporter of the society.

The portrait of the artist’s wife is an excellent piece of painting, lull of sympathy, harmony and well placed on the canvas. The study of the artist’s daughter is equally sympathetic, but the third portrait is not quite so finished and it pales by comparison with the other two.

One of the difficulties of painting in water-colours in low tones is that the picture tends to become dull. It is generally recognised that the lowertoned subjects are more suited to treatment in oils. “The Fisherman's Cottage” and the scene "On the Yorkshire Coast” are, in their way, achievements of low-tone subjects. The study ol the head of a lion is also a line piece of workmanship. In the charcoal section the head of an Italian is striking for its freshness and vigour of treatment The still-life, study in oils, "A Pig s Head,” is the highpoint of the exhibition in its class.

Vivian Smith has done much good work -good work in the professional, not the amateur sense. His experience is wide and his knowledge profound. Should he decide to treat New Zealand scenery with the same fidelity as he has done his English scenery, it would be a valuable addition to New Zealand art.