ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 306, 20 September 1920, Page 6

ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS

» • '' "annual show opened FORM OF NATIONAL WAR MEMORIAL PRIME MINISTER SUGGESTS A COLUMN "Mr. T. Shailer "Weston, tlie president " Of tho Now Zealand Academy of. Fine '-'- Arts; in calling on the Prime Minister (Right Hon. "W. F. Massey) to open the .academy's annual exhibition on Saturday night; said that although, up to the present they had failed to convince the Government that -a national Art gal- i lery was. tho finest and most, endur- > ing form of national "war memorial, they had not yet given up hope. Perhaps the finest form of memorial that could be imagined was a great national church, but as the community was divided into bo many different sects that was imposBible. Next to a church, he thought the test way of commemorating an? great national deed would be a beautiful structure representative of the artistic ■ .'life of the land, and which would Income a part of its national life. lake the city of Florence, with its buudin-s 'of great artistic beauty, and Vemco with its Campanile, anil Dogo's Palace, buildings which all the world wont 10 sec, and which never failed to make an lm- , pression. Surely a fine art gallery. wwild ' be a fitting memorial of the part Aew .. Zealand had played in the war whicU .'. had just ended. He would like odm attention to. the great growth of interest in Mt in Wellington during the last few years. The academy had now over 600 members, whereas three or four years ■ Ago it had not three liundred members. In that respect they were muchiiiW to the trustees of the Mawirthy I'und, which recognised the good work tho a«i- ---... demy was doing. There might lie -tlioso who thouglit tho Selection Conimitteo : had .been a little hard, but most of the .' pictures rejected had been sketches, and ' the council would be glad if the artists concerned would' send them to tho next sketch exhibition. .... , ~ Mr. Weston drew attention to the fact ~ that one of the best exhibits was a bust V. of the Prime Minister by Air. Lina. -'. When.a strong man was done by a good ■;,v-nrtist failure was almost impossible. Mr. •■ Ellis had admirably caught the features of the man now at the helm In this country. The vice-president of the academy, Mr. W. A. Bowring, was ex- . hibiting for the last time for some years to come. He had resolved to take hw clnfaces in the ffreat arena, of London, and all would wish him well. Air. Bowring: had never done better work ,*Tian that in, this year's exhibition They 'would all join in wishing Mi. Bowring ' the best of good luck, which would, in his case be a recognition of his work on its merits. , , „ Mr. Massey thanked the academy for "' the honour done him in asking him to ■ cpen the annual exhibition, which lie I-did. with a great deal of pleasure.. He ' liad been told that he ought to be interested, and be was interested in many ■phases of art. As -to his bust, he was afraid that Mr. Ellis had caught ham 111 his severest frame of mind.. (Laughter.) It must have been when he was in opposition." (Applause and laughter.) In this' young.country art was in its infancy, but te had little doubt that it ■ ■ 'would do well in years to come. Here : ' the speaker referred to the higher forms ' of art that were, or had been, extant im "those countries which could boast anV cient civilisations such as Greece, Home. * Venice, and even India, China and Japan, where art had flourished in the dim long ago. But. he could flay sin* eerely that artistic works.wero to bo ■ found in London and Paris that were worth goilng all-the way to see. lor the first six months of last year ho was ■ in I'aris, and on more than ono occa-sion-had seen the art treasures of the Louvre, with its marvellous instances o.t painting, and sculpture. When ho was ' there London was practically m a state • of siege, and most of the important art ' treasursg had been, stored in places of safety eo that they would not suffer | -if.from enemy air raids. ' There he had , had the pleasure of meeting such dis- ' (Hinguished artists as Sir William Orpen, Mn-Augustus John, and Sir James Guth- I ■ rie, and he had sat for .each of them. .i.'iSome'.of the portraits of .the representa- * tives of overseas Dominions were pur-, chased for the National Gallery, and his hacV the fortune to be selected as one of . the number. His portrait by Sir James Glithrie was not finished when he left England, but he had little doubt but " that the vice-president of the Scottish Academy would do his work faithfully. Mr. Massey said lie was afraid' that Y',Jie dilffered from Mr. Weston with reference to the form of the national war v., memorial. ' They would agree to differ. " It "would be . best if the memorial were . purely., artistic. He did not telicve in >-the-utilitarian idea at all. no was - rather inclined to think that a good form • would be a noble column erected itn the capital city of the Dominion—but not on Mount Victoria—a monument that would stand for many centuries to come as a " reminder of . those'who had given their ' S'lives in the'service of their country in the greatest crisis whifeh had faced •*-the- Anglo-Saxon race. The colv.mn ' 'should' be visible from all parts of the city. Where such a site was he was ■" not" prepared to say, but, in any. case, he hoped to give way to the wishes of the majority. (Hear, hear.) He hoped -' the' opportunity would not be missed of making the memorial worthy of the occasion. (Applause.) He trusted that.Mr. Bowring would make a name for himself iln the Old .Country. To anyone of an artistic jemnerament, together with the requisite . skill,'the scenery of New Zealand should ?'■ be a source of great inspiration, and New. Zealand would, in time to come, produce men who would liold their own with- the, best the world could produce. •" f Applause.) He had much pleasure in • 'declaring tlie exhibition open, and hoped it would be the success it deserved to be, (Applause.)