NATIONAL GALLERY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1449, 25 May 1912, Page 6

NATIONAL GALLERY.

ANOTHER .CIOOO WANTED. Tho Picture Purchase Fund has now reached .CIOOO, and with tho last stage, of the journey entered upon, tho organisers havo still the best part of a fortnight in which to complete the full distance set by tho corporation authorities to be covered. A keen interest hns been taken in tho National Gallery movement all over the Dominion, end critics havo not been backward in rnanj' places in declaring that the City Council hero had'set an impossible task. It should therejoro be a duty as well as a pleasure to citizens to heartily co-operate in ono final offort to raise the balance still required to achieve a full measure of success. Thnt should not prove a difficult task, as thero aro still several amounts to come in, though not yet definitely fixed. This afternoon tho public of Wellington will have on opportunity to assist the fund, and at the same time got good value for their money, by filling the Adelplii Picture Theatre, Willis Street, to repletion, ns the proprietors have generously agreed to devote tho wholo of tho proceeds of tho initial matinee to the cause of the National Gallery.

Tho exhibition of British pictures will bo opened' to the public on Sunday afternoon, and a collection will be taken at the door. The privilege of viewing this fine collection of modern paintings will not bo available much longer, and citizens should not miss the opportunity thus afforded them.

Tho sons of the late Mr. William Beetham, first • president of the New Zealand Society o£ Arts, Wellington, whjck was afterwards incorporated as the NewZealand Academy of Pine Arts, have presented to the National Gallery, in memory of their father, that very fine painting by tho late- David Farquherson, A.K.A., entitled, "Waiting for Darkness." This is a picture that has been universally admired by visitors to tho gallery. A most gratifying feature of the present campaign has Wii the response of the pupils attending tho primary schools of Wellington and immediate suburbs to the suggestion that it miglifc be possible • -for them to raise sufficient to purchase a picture for presentation to the National Gallery. Returns have now come to hand from ten schools (out of about twentyfive), and they amount 'to over .£37. Many hundreds of the primary school children have viewed tho pictures this week, those, attending yesterday moraine being the pupils of the Mount Cook Girls and the Normal (Thorndon) Schools, ine children of the remaining schools liavo been invited to come next week. Mr. A. K. Coft'ey,, one of the art instructors of tho Technical College, Sydney, wlio- passed through Wellington yesterday on his way to Europe as the representative of the Commonwealth Government at tho International Congress on Applied Arts, to be lield at Munich, visited the Baillie exhibition, and he also unhesitatingly expressed the opinion that it is the best collection of modern paintings he has yet seen in Australasia. • The donations to date are:— . / £ . 8. d. Amount acknowledged 3.678 19 3 Pupils, Wadestown School (additional) ■ • 0 3,7 Pupils, Normal School 5 - iu Sons of the late William / Beetham (picture) 200 0 0 Percentage of Admissions -o u u Commission on Sales, fourth mstalment '• 5 » J ° Ellis Wilkinson •• "Two Poor Cranks" ......... 0a 0 H. S. Wardell Memorial PictureMrs. 11. Beetham, Brance- '\ \\ Mrs: C. Elgar 5 5 0 1 . £1,022 2 8