ART STUDENTS IN DEMONSTRATION AGAINST CRITIC

Wanganui Chronicle, 7 November 1950, Page 5

ART STUDENTS IN DEMONSTRATION AGAINST CRITIC

LONDON, Nov. 4.—Sir Alfred Mannings, a past president of the Royal Academy, painter of horses and critic of modern art, was greeted by 200 hostile artists when he went to open an exhibition in Chelsea. He had to make his way through 100 students outside the Polythechnic building, led by a girl on a grey horse saddled with sackcloth and bearing the banners: “Down with Alfie!” and “Tipster Alfred Knows All About Form.” Sir Alfred Munnings, after saying he would not make a controversial speech, opened the exhibition by describing many exhibits as “shockers,” and said some of them recalled an exhibit at a Paris salon by a groun of painters who produced a masterpiece by tying a brush to the tail of a donkey named Lolo, and letting her paint at will. The picture, under the title “The Sun Goes Down Over the Adriatic,” was subsequently accepted, by the Salon des Independents, which represented advanced circles in France 30 years ago. Students did not like this comparison, so invaded the platform where Sir Alfred Munnings calmly produced a hip flask of whisky and offered the leader a swig. When he left, the organisers were anxious to get. him away by a back door, but he insisted in going out the front way, where he escaped without opposition.