NOVEL PAINTINGS

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 120, 17 November 1932, Page 20

NOVEL PAINTINGS

It is a characteristic of the present generation that it likes to break away from tradition and.to seek out new paths for itself, and in many cases, perhaps, there is a certain amount of justification for this course. In the realm of art, amongst others, one finds this tendency to strike out on new paths, and Wellington at the present time, in an exhibition of paintings and drawings in the Art Gallery, Whitmore street, has a chance of seeing something very novel in Miss Madeline Vyner's experiments in placing pigments on canvas. It is quite impossible to. describe her style: her paintings and drawings must be seen to be appreciated or otherwise. James Shelley, of Canterbury College, recently said of them: "Her formal abstracts upon dance themes will disturb many." This is true enough, and the orthodox artist, and the art critic, too, will he so disturbed that they are likely to be dumb. The same authority says that she "is concerned only with conveying those kinaesthetic impressions she experiences rather than the visual impressions which others see." That may be so, but whether the result can be described as Art (with a capital), or as merely a bit of chorographie experimentation in colour or pencil must be left to each individual who sees the. pictures to decide for himself or herself. The dancers, naiads, and dryads, which look for all the world Jjke animated.tree-trunks, will certainly amuse. That Miss Vyner can be more orthodox is evident from some tree studies. She is exhibiting altogether a dozen paintings arid nine drawings. At the same exhibition Mr. Koss MeGill, another of _New Zealand's -younger school of artists, is showing a number of paint--ings and drawings. These are not nearly so startling in their originality as Miss vyner's work. Mr. MeGill seems in most cases studiously to avoid anything with beauty in it, and this fact, added to a : certain crudity in drawing, does not make for satisfaction in his work. The most impressive of a number of paintings and drawings which cover a wide field of subjects is "Where Men Have Been," which somewhat forcefully depicts a road winding over the summit of a rugged range of hills.