ART IN WARTIME

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 284, 29 August 1942, Page 10

ART IN WARTIME

Tearooms As Picture Gallery

War is disrupting even the quiet lanes of local art. The National Art Gallery Is no longer a home of art, practically the whole of it having been taken possession of by other authorities. One result is that the office of the National Art Gallery, and, with it that of the New Zealand .Academy of Fine Arts, is now located in the D.I.C. Building, Lambton Quay. As there is now no prospect of any art exhibitions being held in the National Gallery building during the war there has been much discussion as to what course should .be taken under these extraordinary circumstances. A compromise has been evolved, by which it is hoped the flickering flame of art will be kept alight in Wellington. The board of trustees of the National Art Gallery has rented the large tearoom of the D.1.C., where it is proposed that exhibitions of pictures from the national collection will be given, and where the seasonal shows of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts will take place. To make this room practicable for picture exhibition, it is proposed to erect a false wall of some suitable material 10 or 12 feet in height, on which the pictures will be hung, as the present plaster walls cannot 'be used for that, purpose. This false wall will be toned in some neutral shade best suited to the lighting.