The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1910. ART AND THE PUBLIC

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 936, 1 October 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1910. ART AND THE PUBLIC

Various events during the past year have combined to mako the opening" of tho annual exhibition of ' the local Academy, which takes place - to-day, a proper , occasion, for a. few observations -upon some little-con-sidered .aspects of Art as a public qiiestion. : Year by year the general level of the works exhibited in the local gallery rises , slowly,'but although every year we see canvases that speak of very considerable ability—these are by; no means the most popular,as the. sales show—it must be admitted'-that in. painting • New Zealand occupies the . same lowly place as it occupies in poetry. There is no cause for surprise in the vitality 'of musio .' in this country, whidh has produced fine singers and instrumentalists, for there is no art jo easy of pursuit or so' direct in: its appeal. The visits of great artists are no longer very rare events, and the works of the great composers can be bought as readily as the' works of the great ancient and modern masters' of literature. We should certainly have expected poetry to flourish for a like, reason, out it does not flourish, and we are bound to siy that we cannot' with any confidence say ,why. With respect to painting, , the I facts are much simpler. . The great fact is, of course,; that: there is not available to the public any considerable body of art documents. This is the vital difference between painting and literature from the point of view of the communily. Anybody can buy the best literature in the world for, a few pounds, and almost any /great single work for a few pence. But every great paint ing is an edition of one copy, and it generally disappears from circulation by finding its way into the home of the wealthy collector. It is almost utterly lost to the world as a stimu-, lus to thought; it is as if Shakes-, peaee, on writing a play, had sold the manuscript to a private buyer for his exclusive use and,enjoyment. Copies of the great productions] of the brush are of course circulated freely-enough as photo- , gravures, and prints, but every artist knows that,' they are ..as little useful to him as brief verbal (descriptions of the original. _ I There is. accordingly very, little to encourage really good work by jour local artists. But even if much were done—even if there were great land well-endowed collections and schools of art, would the artistic .sense of the community necessarily be greatly advantaged 1 It is extremely doubtful, for Art cannot flourish iii a vacuum, or subsist, as it'were,-on its own eggs. A market is as necessary to it as to soap or motor-cars. A great deal has been said in) this country, and especially in this? city, upon the absence of any real demand by the public for good pictures,' the absence of a true artistic spirit; and tho question arises, what, if; anything, can bo dono to cultivate a love of true art in the average man? The question was discussed in a very suggestive article in a London journal about six weeks ago. The writer of the article very proporly pointed out that it is not at all accurate to say that there is "no demand for art." As a matter of fact there is everywhere a clamour of evidence to the contrary. In the ' ordinary sitting-room of the ordinary well-to-do home there is art sprawling all over the walls both in pictures and in printed patterns; art stamped on, the fireplace and mantelpiece. Upstairs you will find art on the bedspread. Indeed, there is too much demand for art—"a demand, in fact, so urgent that, when it cannot'get food art, it will put up with bad:" .s in ancient Home, where tho inordinate desire for sculpture .precipitated the plague of GraecoHomau statues,, which arc response

ible for the common but.extraordinary idea that sculpture is "a dujl, incomprehensible art," so in Britain the demand for art of some kind exceeds beyond measurement the supply of fine art, and the result is an abundanco of spurious art that has blunted the people's understanding and extinguished in most minds the power of distinguishing art' that is expressive from- that which is not. The writer illustrates this point by taking the . case of the people who buy wall-paper with a rose pattern because they love roses. "They think that because roses are beautiful a colourable imitation of them must also bo boautiful. They do not understand that an imitation of roses is a ghastly mockery, unless the man who produced it expressed in it some passion of his own for the beauty of roses. ... . For the expressive power of _ art is not only in .design but also in execution." .

No doubt the visitors to the exhibition that opens to-day will 'see some meritorious work, but unless there is to be a change from the exhibitions in past years, they will also see a great many paintings that simply are not art at all.' Anybody who has seen much of the periodical exhibitions by the societies in Wellington and in other Now Zealand towns knows that almost'all the pictures are purely objective works, and that of these many are mere "plans" from which emanates not a single breath of feeling. This is-a very .depressing fact for those who hope that one day an end may come to the public's wallowing, in cheap and spurious art. Most" people think that our salvation must come from the artists and from .the provision of some sort of practical art education by: the authorities. The writer of the article referred to lias' little hope;' however, that the remedy lies there. What is wanted; he urges, is that people must be taught that they cannot possibly have as muchiart as'they demand.• A. true work of art is so rare and takes, so long to produce that it can never be cheap. "The first necessity of our artistic education is not to understand . the beauty of the Elgin Marbles or the Sistine Chapely but to learn that, a pattern is not; more beautiful than, a blank, space .unless the pattern expresses something -'and has; Eomc reason for being .whereat is.; When' we have learnt. this, w& shall sweep most of the art out of our houses; and, when wo cease to spend money on Bhams, ; we shall have more to spend upon realities. . We must realise that most of us c.annot afford to have any art at all in most of our rooms; and, having.realised that, we shall take more pains, to make them clean and bright and' cheerful. . . . We must. sweep»

our rooms.beforc we garnish;-them; and when' wo have, swept them we shall begin to .understand how, they ought to be garnished." This is not an entirely new doctrine, but it, is clearly a sound., one. And we ..cannot ; help asking ourselves .whether our local. Academy is acting in the spirit Sf' it'by encouraging!our lbcal amateurs to send in as much'as possible. For in about 500 pictures by local artists there must be many that do not mean br'express anything at all.' ...'• " '