MORE ABOUT THE WOMEN'S EXHIBITION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 51, 23 November 1907, Page 11

MORE ABOUT THE WOMEN'S EXHIBITION.

'-■■■■ DEVELOPING GOOD .TASTE. '.., ■• (FROM ■OUn'SrEOIAI,;CORnESP!ONDENT.) ;- : .- .. Melbourne,-November 15. • ' The. question lias been much debated' hero as to '.whether or not all exhibits sent in for the Women's Work. Exhibition should be displayed, and for.some timo; feeling ran rather high on. the subject. .Many' laclios .on the various, .committees' strongly .disapproved of' tho hanging'of pictures which were obviously bad, and the showing; of needlework or other articles demonstrably inartistic. Lady Northcote, however, took a firm stand on the side of tho "hang everything" faction, and in deferemo to her Excellency no exhibit has been excluded, novor mind how wrong its design or workmanship. To "educated tastes no doubt such contrasts as this courso affords are very informative; but the person of uneducated tastes fails entirely to be enlightened thoroby, and indeed bocomes confirmed in evil-doing by gassing on so many "horrors." It is, however, exceedingly interesting to bo able to compare much of the work-sent in by Australian women with that shown in the Home Industries Section at the Now Zealand International Exhibition. Much was said and written, at the time of tho utter want of good taste and knowledge of art shown by many of tho New Zealand exhibitors. Practically tho same might bo said of these latest Australian oxhibitors—and there aro more of thorn. Certainly tho New Zealand Exhibition furnished nothing eo good in,

many sections as tho work shown here, but it also furnished nothing worse, if indeed, so bad. INAPPROPRIATE DESIGNING. In the matter of wood-carving, the prize work in New Zealand was, in most sections; quite equal in design and workmanship to that shown hero. There seems to be a craze in Australia for an' entirely wrong applica 7 tion of the carving tools to wood in tho. representation of various natural objects. 1' or oxnmplo, one of the principal prizes goes to a panel of roses, whoro the flowers are not simply and naturally carved in relief, but aro actually cut out'of a solid block of wood, m much the same way as the Chinese carvo ivory balls. This is, of course; very clever and tricky, but it is'not'art. The utility of the pandas a piece of solid, strong furniture —and' surely wood-carving ought to bo that-!--is quite lost; it has become merely, a pretty little dust-trap of a somewhat- fragile kind. Another misapplication of wood work is surely that shown in an elaborate dresser, made in the form of "The House, that Jack built"—a white, varnished deal structure, coloured in patches .to somewhat violent red aud green. This work is classed as "marqucteric;" and receives a prize medal. _ . i Far -worse, however, in total -inappropnateness for the..' purpose supposed, to bo served by the article are some of the needlework exhibits, notably the cushion's. Simple-minded persons' imagine that cushions are meant lor resting the'head upon ; a great, many exhibitors arc not simple-minded persons:. How. can anyone lay a weary head on a cushion with a wire butterfly right, in the centre? or upon huge, stimed' wool-work roses or white velvet arum lilies, or pink.plush hollyhocks? Whc : thor or not a cushion is even a proper object for decoration with.- 1 the paint.brush is questionable ; but certainly a cushion made of pale green satin 'with "painted pink rosebuds does hot seem to offer many possibilities for re : pose—especially.'if the owner'be anywhere in thc.virinity. ■•''.'' ....'■>.,'.' ' COLLECTOR'S SINS.; , But all these works, palo before thosp.of the ''collector." Collecting is, of. course', a disease, and the microbe has been isolated on; ordinary postage, stamps. In-Australia it. prevails in a particularly. virulent fiuiri, as evidenced by somo of the exhibits shown here! Most of us look upon'.the ordinary, stanipr collecting microbe as a rather harmless variety ...which frequently dies a natural death in a four-and-sixpenny, album; but iAustralian cultures made of this microbe have developed a much more disagreeable species, and persons inoculated with this not only collect.Stamps: but maho firescreens, pictures, plaques, and other ohjects from them. . -Another'instance of the deadly work of the collecting m'icrobo is tho making of family trees and family bouquets out of human hair: A .wo'nderfur'amdunt of ingomiity is displayed in'the making of these' productions, but surely it is ,'a very .nasty idea to go round plucking all'one's relatives of their' red, brown, gray, and black locks in order to twist these into a demi-semi'-natural resomblanco of flowers or loaves. ' " "' One example'of the work of the collecting

microbe struck the observor as good—tho making of a largo'rug, muff and necklet out of rabbits', tails. These make strong, warm, and durable articles, and the general effect is pleasing. It is noticeable that this exhibit affords great satisfaction to country visitors, presumably,.as a sure and certain sign that so many thousands of bunnies have departed this life and left their tails behind them. '