NEW ZEALAND'S FIRST SCULPTRESS. MISS ISOBEL TAYLOR AND HER CARVINGS.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 6, 2 April 1906, Page 140

NEW ZEALAND'S FIRST SCULPTRESS. MISS ISOBEL TAYLOR AND HER CARVINGS.

It is said that when a British tree is transplanted to New Zealand it so adapts itself to the antipodean climate that on the approach of the season which for it should be winter, it bursts into green foliage as in an English June. Something akin to this natural phenomenon appears to have happened m the case of Miss Isobel Taylor, who, when no longer young, left her home in Scotland for Dunedm, and has there developed a rich and vigorous genius for woodcarving, on the verge of what we are wont to regard as the autumn of life. Never in her recollection had this clever artist in wood attempted to draw, paint, or in any way to express her creative talent until one day when she attended an exhibition of arts and crafts at a New Zealand school. Strangely attracted by an exhibit of -wood carving, she examined the various examples long and earnestly, and, much to the astonishment of her friends, announced her determination to devote her life to this form of art. At the school which she visited with the intention of taking a course of instruction, Miss Taylor soon perceived that ordinary routine teaching could have little value for her, and she quickly abandoned, perhaps fortunately, the beaten path of the schools for ever. Thus cast upon her own resources, the undaunted Scotswoman bought some wood and a few tools, which she employed in her own way, and set to work purely and simply to tell stories in wood.

Marvellous as it may seem, her first attempt at carving by herself was crowned with success. There was surprisingly little bungling, spoiling of wood, or breaking of tools. Naturally her first achievements lacked finish, for it must always be a difficult matter to establish the prompt and exact obedience of the untrained muscles to the dictates of an active brain. Yet enthusiasm and strength of will at last prevailed over material obstacles, and, with no one to counsel her, Miss Taylor took to copying pictures, reproducing them in relief with an' astonishing sense of composition and sureness of touch. Ultimately she attempted a portrait from a living model, which is declared by those who have seen it to be strikingly lifelike. It speaks well for the aesthetic sense of the New Zealanders that they appear to have appreciated Miss Taylors work at its true value, and many visitors wended their way to the little creeper-clad villa where the sculptress worked. In England, however, where she is now working, those who have the reputation of experts, accustomed as they are to the stereotyped work of art schools and guided by tradition, at first hesitated in their approval. While fully recognising that hers is no ordinary carving, they were, with some notable exceptions, taken aback by this lonely worker's disregard for their cherished rules and the ingenious methods by which she attains her effects.

As is often the case, the most generous in their praise have been the most eminent in their art, one of whom recently confessed, " Many of us can carve heads, Miss Taylor, but we can't put life into them as you can." Passionately devoted to her work, which, as she says, " has made life sweeter and fuller " for her, Miss Taylor, since her return to Great Britain, has never sought publicity, and has far too moderate an estimate of her powers. " I am grateful that I can still please others with my talent," she writes, " though I can never please myself." Such doctrines are heresy m the twentieth century ; there is no money in them ; but any one who has the privilege of Miss Taylors acquaintance knows that in such a life there is happiness. One of the earliest of Miss Taylors productions was the case of a grandfather's clock, which she intended as a wedding gift for a medical friend. Unfortunately the illustration of it, which we are able to give, is reproduced from a very imperfect photograph taken in New Zealand, and by no means does justice to the original. Still, with a magnifying glass a good idea of the merits of the work may be obtained. Pictures having been Miss Taylors only masters, she may be pardoned for having turned to them for inspiration. For the main panel the well-known painting by Luke Fildes, R.A., entitled " The Doctor," was chosen, and it will be seen with what freedom the spirit of the original has been reproduced on the flat surface of the stubborn wood. Round the dial and elsewhere are emblems of the flight of time, while the front panel portrays the ideal doctor's home which the designer wished for the young people. The skilful grouping of the objects in the foreground, leading up to the house embowered in New Zealand trees, is admir-

ably earned out. On the side panels, to mark the date as it were, have been placed representations of Mr. Balfour, with shamrocks to suggest the position m which he made his name, and Mr. Chamberlain, as Minister for the colonies, with the familiar badge of orchids. It is true that as likenesses the presentments of the two statesmen are not so striking as to be useful for identification purposes at Scotland Yard, but for this the defective originals taken from a New Zealand paper, and to a degree bad photography, are responsible. Yet, when it is remembered that the successful composition of the foliage and birds in the framing as well as the general design, the perspective, and proportions are the product of an absolutely untaught hand and brain, such small and readily corrected imperfections need m no way detract from our admiration of Miss Taylors earliest important effort. Naturally we need not look for brilliant technique in work of this description, but by her conscientious execution and very artlessness, if we may say so, Miss Taylor has achieved something which in simple directness is akin to the highest art. Her productions are weak precisely where she has been tempted to imitate, as for example in some of her backgrounds artificially roughened by a device which is a joy and a snare to the conventional worker. Where she is natural and spontaneous

she never fails to attain an attractive result. Although her own desire is to devote her energies to the adornment of some private house of so dignified and tasteful a design that it would encourage her to put forth her full powers, we cannot help thinking that Miss Taylors undoubted talent for simple pictorial expression would find fullest scope in a biblical subject. As becomes a Scot of the old school, she has deeply studied Old Testament history, and were she to be entrusted with the decoration of a reredos or a series of choir stalls, the result could not but be of high artistic excellence. Here is surely an opportunity for some wealthy ecclesiastical benefactor to enrich one of our modern churches with a masterpiece worthy to compare with the work of the religiously inspired craftsmen of the Middle Ages.