MODERN ART

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20694, 3 January 1939, Page 10

MODERN ART

EXTREME PHABE PASBED CHRISTCHURCH ARTIST’S VIEW EFFECT OF WAR SCARES (By Telegrapn—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Saturday Modern artists who have not adopted extremists id.eas can command good prices for their works. The craze for expression through cubes and prisms is dying away. Cubist art had an influence, particularly on architecture, but the phase had passed. These were the statements of Mr Sydney Thompson, a Christchurch artist, who has been abroad for 15 months studying Continental art. He was commissioned by the MteDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, to purchase a picture but found that the works of modern artists of standing commanded prices well beyond the amount at his disposal. Painters in Europe, however, were not having a prosperous time, the war scares having ruined their market. People realised that they might have to leave their homes at a moment’s notice. German Girl’s Bequest The commission Mr Thompson received to purchase a picture arose out I of a bequest made bv a German girl ! who was a cook in Christchurch. She spent all her spare time attending the art galleries, and left all her money, about £2OO, for the purchase of a picture so that other people could get more pleasure out of life.