PICTURES ON LOAN

Evening Star, Issue 23376, 20 September 1939, Page 11

PICTURES ON LOAN

NEW DEPARTURE AT LIBRARY OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY THE MASTERS With the intention of fostering a wider appreciation of art, and of providing citizens with opportunities of becoming familiar with the best in painting, a rental loan collection lias been instituted at the Public Library, this new section being officially opened by the mayor (Mr A. H. Allen) this afternoon. Any picture in the collection, which comprises 37 largo prints of noted works, and 51 small prints, may be obtained on application at the information desk. Pictures are loaned for one calendar month at the rotes of Is for small prints and 2s for large, payable in advance. Renewal may bo effected by payment of another month’s rental, provided the picture is not reserved by another borrower. Overdue pictures are charged at 2d a day, The.pictures are all framed ready for hanging, and all responsibility for their care will lie with the borrower, who has to sign a contract, in which he promises to make good any damage done. The selection is a very wide one, and has been carefully made. There are works by modern painters, as well as the old masters, and prints include works by Fra Angelico, Paul Cezanne. Corot, Paul Gangin, Van'Gogh, El Greco, Laura Knight, Edouard Manet, Raeburn. Rembrandt, Sir Joshua Reynolds. Tintoretto, Utrillo, Vermeer, Vlaminck, etc. The committee responsible for selection consists of Mrs John M'Tndoe. sen.. Dr W. H. Rorrie, Messrs Gordon Toyey and A. G. W. Dunningham (librarian). This departure is entirely now for public libraries in New Zealand, and it£ development will be watched with interest. The pictures should possess very great appeal to students of art, as well as to the average lover of a good picture. For students the chances of obtaining for study works of masters or moderns who have in any way had a particular influence on tho trend of painting are extremely rare normally, and the library’s operations should he welcomed by them. It is hoped that as public interest grows it will be possible to widen the present scope of the collection, and to include prints of as many important pictures as possible.