ART EXHIBITION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 59, 6 December 1946, Page 5

ART EXHIBITION

DISPLAY IN CALEDONIAN HALL INSTRUCTIVE LECTURES GIVEN Whilst this town could scarcely be described as artistically*, minded, there can be no doubt as to the deep appreciation and widespread interest in the exhibition of paintings sponsored by the Community Arts Ser- - vice, which took place in the Caledonian Hall last Wednesday afternoon and evening. Some sixty-five pictures, all the work of Auckland artists, were on display, and at both sessions, an interested public took full advantage of the occasion, and studied the pictures thoroughly.

Mr A. C. Hipwell, member of the Auckland Society of Arts, gave two interesting lectures for the benefit bf patrons, and introduced some of the new features of modern art, which, as he stated, appeared to require explanation" and understanding. He was accorded an. attentive hearing, and warmly thanked for his dissertation, which all agreed was necessary in viewing the more modernistic tendancies.

The display itself must have been a carefully selected number of works covering a wide range of subjects, and a particularly wide variety of styles. From the point of view of the average visitor, the truly natural reproductions won the greatest commendation, and it would appear that at heart, the public still loves the true artist rather than the modern neurotic, who seeks to exaggerate and bewilder by a mass of incongruous daubs, and a flight of frenzied mental fancies, which defy elucidation.

Wednesday’s exhibition must have done a great deal towards inspiring a new interest in art in this town, and many of the scenes depicted must have been recognised with pleasure by those who attended. The gem of the collection appeared to be Miss Gwyneth Richardson’s “Quiet Waters,” and also her perfect reproduction of a N.Z. landscape. . Frank Stevens also found many admirers for his natural little glimpse of Pt. Chevalier. The buoyant reproductions of fishing boats “Trieste” and Italian farmland by Jack Crippen were also worthy- of much favourable comment. Another inspiring New Zealand out-of-doors was by K. A. Vane “From The Hermitage,” while John Tole’s pretty little study of Koromiko was likewise a gem in itself. Decorative work was also of a high order, and was well represented. All these studies gave great pleasure, and it was difficult to understand why they should be hung side by side with some of the apparent conglomerate masses of colour and heavy lines which were masquerading under the title of Art. To be iionest there was none of the extreme surrealist or cubistic monstrosities, but at the' same time, such headings as “Autumn Trees,” which captioned a few child-like flourishes of Vermillion and dull brown, and plastercine-like studies of hills, stone quarries and moron-like humans, left no doubt that the weird imaginations of the extreme modern school have still powers to reach and to be recognised by the. art critics.