The Conditions of Art in New Zealand.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume III, 1 October 1900, Page 61

The Conditions of Art in New Zealand.

By Vj. B. Vaughan.

W I 1 is more than probable that the interest rail ■ |S taken in Art in New Zealand is at a f|| lower ebb than in any country in the world. Even in rough and ready, uncultivated Australia there is more appreciation of artistic effort than in this land of pretended culture and affected democracy, which is a happy hunting ground for the fakirs, native-born and foreign, who make a good living by cheaply pandering to the spurious tastes of alleged art patrons, to the detriment of true art. For however elementary it may be, Art does exist here, though its growth is impeded by the kind of article produced by the above-mentioned imposters (usually known among Art students as " tripers.") This, by its ever present abundance, diverts the attention, and perverts the growing judgment of those who might otherwise be brought within the scope of interest in the genuine " stuff." The chief drawback, however, to the appreciation of Art in New Zealand lies in the character of its leading citizens. These petty souled bourgeois of more or less affluence, smugly complacent, or loudly pompous, according to their nature, are hardly the kind of individuals to possess that sympathetic feeling which leans towards the finer instincts of life.

The shopkeeping spirit and Art do not assimilate, and unfortunately in this country the people of most financial influence are the successful huxters or schemers of the community, who generally lack nothing but the refinement of spirit necessary to recognise real artistic ability, and the

necessity of materially assisting in the general cultivation of such a valuable aesthetic property. The element of artistic patronage hero is at present chiefly confined to a shallow- pated coterie, who, with an air of brutal indifference, flippantly offer a shilling or eighteonpence at auction for a sketch, which has probably entailed a day's labour, not counting the evolving of the idea, nor the cost of material. Others there are, who, when they bid up to a pound for a real h'oil painting, swell with visible importance, and plume themselves with all the zest of a ten thousand guinea buyer at Christie's.

These people have yet .to learn that artistic labour does not receive its duo unless paid for at a rate a hundred fold in advance of ordinary work ; not only because of its superior intellectual value and the previous years of study necessary, but also because the ai'tist cannot turn out original work daily, but must be abroad at least half his time, to relieve brain pressure, to receive fresh impressions, and to evolve ideas, and though a high remuneration must be received in order to recoup the cost of production, yet it is in a sense but the legitimate recognition of its status, though its true value can never be estimated by any financial scale. Certainly the general public cannot really afford to pay for artistic worth, and pot-toilers have a detrimental and retrograde effect on the efforts of their producer, tending towards slovenly practice, and sapping energy for more serious work, while they at the same time lower to the verge of non-recognition the standard of

judgment in the purchaser, who, too often as it is, will pay vastly more for a mediocre effect in oils than for a black and white, or water-colour drawing containing genuine merit. The most discouraging part is that the ordinary public take not the slightest interest in art beyond mere curiosity. Their intellectual palate is satisfied with commonplace and incorrect almanac illustrations, cheap novels, third-rate opera, or bloodcurdling melodrama, but not Art, either on the stage, in the picture gallery, or in its many other phases wherein it is a dead letter to a not more living people.

Art, in any branch, being an intellectual attainment, backed by spiritual expression, which has succeeded in reaching a certain standard of excellence, naturally appeals only to those whose feelings of sympathy and mental calibre run on parallel lines, or nearly so. And as the understanding of the ordinary individual neither approaches that standard of excellence, nor is capable of appreciating a spiritual expression, it as naturally follows that he or she must still continue to be more amused by buffoonery, and more satisfied by morbid sensationalism, than interested by the higher attainments which have passed the line, and are outside the sphere of their intelligence. Handicapped as the New Zealand Art student is in many ways, perhaps he is in none more so than in the want of a living model, and in consequence, it is literally impossible for the figure student to make headway. Suitable sitters are not to be found either for love or money. In other and more enlightened lands professional models abound, and educated and intelligent women, not lacking beauty of face or form, interested in the work and loving the Art, are not too proud nor too coy to assist the artist and the student; and moreover the relations of the painter and the sitter are generally recognised as of too great an importance to admit of anything but the strictest propriety.

Another drawback to the use of the model in this country is the extreme improbability

of the artist obtaining for his labour a price covering the actual cost of production, such is the liberal and appreciative character of those who affect an interest in artistic worth. The appreciative few, immersed themselves in the struggle for existence, are unable to support the practitioners as they should be supported in order to enable them to pursne their calling, for the following of pictorial arc, beside being the most precarious, is the most expensive, exhausting and artistically unyielding of all intellectual pursuits.

What is the cure? There is none, but that the artists themselves must need wait on, and patiently endeavour to instil into the minds of all those capable of conceiving, a gently growing interest in the development of Art, and above all, let them wage incessant war against the " triper, " who lacks the earnest effort required, and whoso work falls short of the standard of excellence necessary to be attained before, in a morally legitimate sense, he should be allowed to exploit the calling professionally.

Then let the culture of Art be widely established by Government ; let a sense of its importance be directly taught to the younger generation in the public schools ; and as this country is professedly of a Communistic tendency, let the Government foster, not only the spirit of Art, but as in some parts of the continent of Europe, by a direct system of aid in models and materials, assist all those who have attained the aforesaid standard ; and lastly, by the help of able judgment and through an incorruptible trustee-ship, purchase annually for the public galleries of their respective centres whatever suitable and deserving works local artists have to sell.

Then perhaps in the near future we shall have a highly cultured public, whose finer instincts may be safely appealed to through the medium of artistic expression, as well as a school of painters endowed with an ability and feeling strong and capable enough to convey that expression through the medium of their work, knowing thoroughly and intuitively from experience what to leave out and what to put in.