H.-21.

Reproductions : Carnegie Grant. Out of the generous grant of £2,000 made available by the Carnegie Corporation for the benefit of art education in Now Zealand the Committee of Management has purchased three shipments of reproductions of paintings of all schools of art from the earliest primitives to the present day. The number of these prints now in the possession of the Gallery is 398, purchased at a cost of £1,050. A further collection has been ordered. During the year the Committee held a meeting with the representatives of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, which acts on behalf of the Carnegie Corporation, and a formal agreement covering the use of the balance of the Carnegie grant and the future control of the reproductions was drawn up. The terms of the agreement are as follows : — " 1. All reproductions purchased by the Museums Trust shall at Ist January, 1941, become the property of the Board of Trustees of the National Art Gallery, held in trust for display to the public throughout New Zealand under the conditions laid down in the regulations attached hereto. " 2. The Museums Trust will make available to the Committee of Management of the National Art Gallery £100 for each of the centres, Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin, to be used for the purchase of reproductions in the control of approved societies in these centres and under the following conditions : — " (a) The collections in these three centres shall be the property of the Board of Trustees of the National Art Gallery held in trust by the approved societies — " (i) For display free to the public : " (ii) For free use by any art school not run for private profit in the instruction of art students : " (iii) For use for educational purposes by means of travelling exhibits or otherwise. " (b) Each society accepting the custody of reproductions shall notify the Committee of Management of the National Art Gallery of the provision made for carrying out the terms of the trust, and of any conditions drawn up for the loan or use of the collection. " 3. The Museums Trust will, on receipt of the proposals satisfactory to it, authorize the Committee of Management of the National Art Gallery to expend the balance of the fund available to extend the collection of reproductions housed at the National Art Gallery and in the control of that Committee. " 4. The Museums Trust will provide up to £50 for the purchase of strong and suitable cases for the purpose of sending reproductions to societies and galleries requiring them, the cases to be the property of the Board of Trustees of the National Art Gallery and held at the National Art Gallery. " 5. The collection of reproductions held by the Board of Trustees of the National Art Gallery shall be available to other bodies on the terms set out in the attached rules." The grants of £100 for each of the other three main centres have been accepted by the Auckland Society of Arts, Auckland, the Canterbury Society of Arts, Christchurch, and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery Society, Dunedin. Each society is able to select the prints to be purchased for its centre. Visit op Professor Sizer. During March Professor T. Sizer, Professor of the History of Art at Yale University, visited Wellington, under the auspices of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Professor Sizer had previously visited Australia, where he assisted in the selection of an Australian collection of paintings to go on tour in the United States of America. While in. Wellington Professor Sizer discussed with the Prime Minister and other representatives of the New Zealand Government the possibility of sending a collection of New Zealand art to be shown in selected galleries and museums throughout the United States of America under the sponsorship of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. As a result of this conference the New Zealand Government has announced that it has decided to make arrangements to carry out this suggestion. It is hoped that a return exhibition of American art will be sent to New Zealand in the near future. The Committee desires to express its wholehearted approval of this project, which it feels will help to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the United States of America and New Zealand and which will, through pictorial records, make our art and our country better known to the people of the United States of America. Members of the Committee of Management had an opportunity of meeting Professor and Mrs. Sizer at a luncheon given for the visitors by the chairman, Mr. D. A. Ewen. Professor Sizer visited the National Art Gallery during his stay in Wellington. He expressed himself as being very favourably impressed with the building and the collection of pictures, and particularly with the arrangement of the latter, which he considered excellent. National Collection. After the close of the Centennial International Art Exhibition the National Collection was completely rearranged and hung. A further rearrangement was necessary when the works from the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition were returned. Out of the limited amount available in its budget the Committee has carried out a considerable amount of necessary work in connection with framing, mounting, glazing, and general renovation of the works belonging to the National Collection. There is much still to be done in this direction.

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