ART IN AUSTRALIA.
MR. BERTRAM MACKENNAL'S VIEW. A KINDLY CLIMATE. (FROU OCR OWN COBR_3PONDBNT). LONDON, December 19. At a dinner given in his honour by the Authors' Club, Air Bertram Mackennal, A.R.A., the Australian sculptor, made a most interesting speech on the future of art in the Commonwealth. "When one thinks how all these Australian States are busy developing their natural resources, it is wonderful that art is considered At all. And I <lo not think they aro behind England ii: placing statues in the parks, and whore there is a 6ite in the city. A statue, or rather a bronze statue, erected in Melbourne or Sydney, whatever its art value, gains in beauty year by year. Whether it is the near vicinity of the sea, or the climate, which adds so much, I do not know, but the bronze develops a very beautiful patina, quite an antique green. You know in London we can never secure this result. If the sculptor managed to produce it in his studio, it would not last six months when placed out of doors in this climate. So at least we have in Australia a proper home for sculpture. "I rememoer during my boyhood in Melbourne, how the Public Gardens had some fine copies of the antique statues placed wherever one would add to tho beauty of the surrouudings, and how delightful they were. These statues were only in plaster, painted. In those days I did not think it at all exceptional ; now. I know what a delightful climate it must be that would allow a plaster statue to stand in heautv for years outdoors. How very easy for such a country to make their gardens beautiful. In the last few years they have rvmoved all the fences and railings fr_m the public parks and gardens, making these exquisite gardens part of the town, instead of treating tho trees and shrubs as wild animals and putting them behind bars. Think of Hyde Park without a railing! T feel certain that Australia will always produce artists. The climate will breed them, andl think an untamed country where you can see Nature nude —not covered by the obliterating finger-prints of man—has a message for the soul ready to receive it. • "Wo may raise men who will give ns groat thoughts, and works, imbued with the instinct of a new people, in a new hind. We must build up a great and nobler architecture before" we can expect the sister arts to exist happily. It is architecture which creates the demand for other arts. And in this art wo have not yet taken the right step. The climate should dictate the stylo of architecture, both in our dwellinghouses and public buildings. It is a ccunt.-y where you require shade. There' is tho finger pointing to tho typo and style required, but it is generally unheeded except by the placing of iron verandahs along some of the streets, which.only succeed in making those streets hideous; they also attract the sun and hold the heat. "Wo shall yet develop a school oP architects born in tho country who will design their buildings with colonnades and loggias, and I am sure there will be great introduction of colour. It must come, and will, when the nativeborn begins to ask himself-: Why not? What a chance Australia has with her proposed new capital. May it be conceived with beauty as well as usefulness. Sculpture in our times, and especially in this country, appears to mc in the guise of a divorced woman. Right back in civilisation, and all through the centuries, sho was tho happy wife of architecture contended to adorn tho one who supported her. 7 do not know who came in to spoil this perfect marriage, but I think it was due to the new. great industries which grow up. everywhere. We see the result to-day,- that an architect designs -niches, and pedestals on and about his buildings, and knows they willnever be filled or occupied. Most of them were never intended to bo otherwise than barren. - Whenever F~ see these barren niches I always.think tho sculptor has a good cause of breach of promise against the architect. (Laughter.) May wo sculptors in the future get heavy damages for this breach, or, happier still, a restitution of conjugal rights." (Laughter). .
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Press, Volume L, Issue 14889, 31 January 1914, Page 8
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721ART IN AUSTRALIA. Press, Volume L, Issue 14889, 31 January 1914, Page 8
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