The Wanganui Chronicle. SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1944 THE ART OF PETER McINTYRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 95, 22 April 1944, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1944 THE ART OF PETER McINTYRE

yiHE last war failed to produce for New Zealand an artist of distinction.. Mr. Nugent Welch was an artist of repute in this country but he developed more on other lines than those in which the scenes of war are well depicted. The war did, however, pro duee some artists of merit in England; but, generally, it was the finished artist who went to France and to other countries and who found there rich fields for picture making. Peter Mclntyre is of this class of artist: the war did not find him; it gave him his opportunity. His work is of interest from the standpoint of depicting the war in the Northern Africa arena, as well as for the exposition of his skill. Peter Mclntyre paints with a purpose: it is to present the atmosphere and the incidents of the war as well as its outstanding personalities. Being New Zealand’s official artist he naturally confines himself to those aspects of the North African campaign that are of particular interest to Ihe people of this Dominion, and in this respect he is something of an artistic reporter, using his brush to inform his audience where the writer uses his pen. How does Mclntyre succeed in this? The answer is provided by the pictures now on exhibition at the Sarjeant Gallery. The merit of the pictures included in the, collection is high. This is because Mclntyre brought a skilled brush to bear upon his task. He.had received a sound education at the Slade School of Art. and elsewhere, and this was advantageous, for in the execution of his wartime tasks he needed a well-rounded technique upon which to draw, as most of these scenes are of movement and fleeting impressions, there at one moment and gone the next. The pictures are. therefore, interesting from the standpoint of graphic presentation as well as from that of the technical, and the artist, when viewing these pictures, will find as much interest from his particular standpoint as does the ordinary visitor who wants to see the pictures in order to learn what conditions were like in the North African campaign. There will be one shock in that the artist has limited himself to a narrow range of tints. Those arresting colours that are so much in evidence in the Eastern pictures of Frank Brangwyn. for instance, have been deliberately denied to Mclntyre's palette. Why did he do this? Probably it was because he was painting actual scenes in the open air in a very dry climate. He was thus com polled to work at high speed and he could not. going at th? pace dictated by the conditions, employ an extended range of colours. He has consequently compromised and used a limited range of colours with extraordinary skill. In some of the pictures so well has he handled his work that this limitation is not to be noticed. This is particularly true in that excellent picture “Solium Pass.” In this picture the sea extends out from the bay with remarkable fidelity in respect to the'light, but it does not over-balance the shore scene of the Pass itself. Other pictures of the terrain include Grim Escarpment and The Eroded Rock, and Salt Lakes. Kufra Oasis. In the vast arid waste of the North African terrain, its loneliness disturbed for the time being by warring man who depends upon the motor truck for his mobility and who is subject to attack from the aeroplane at all times, the white man is depicted as an aggressive, nervous intruder. He is foreign to the scene, and eventually and inevitably the terrain will win. It will slip back to the desolation that it. has been since ancient Rome fell to pieces never to unite again. But it is in his portrayal of swift-moving action that the artist has the greatest claims for attention. “Street Scene in Tobruk” during a bombardment reveals the atmosphere as well as the incident, the monotony and the danger of that long siege. “Maoris Into Battle,” not rushing madly, but going nonchalantly on the top of a truck, reveals familiar attitudes common in the New Zealand scene. High-speed action is instinct in every figure in “Sidi Rezegh.” and in several other pictures. Here is obviously the artist that is equipped to paint, the picture that Wanganui seeks: Jimmy Ward’s heroic deed that won for him the Victoria Cross could be ably recorded by Mclntyre. There is no need to look abroad. Here is the artist at hand, equipped to the last detail by four years of work in the war zones, to undertake the task. It would be a sorry commentary on New Zealand, and particularly on Wanganui, to pass by such an artist, for this task.