TRIUMPH IN ART

Hokitika Guardian, 29 November 1930, Page 6

TRIUMPH IN ART

PECASUS AND YOUTH.

WORK BY MR GROSS.

WELLINGTON WAR MEMORIAL

Wellington has had to wait a long time for its war memorial—l2 years to be exact—but the waiting is being made worth while for the memorial which occupies the island space at Quinton’s Corner will exceed in artistic significance anything of its kind yet attempted in New Zealand.

In some instances very fine memorials have been erected to the gallant dead, but the best of these are, in the main, utilitarian. Wellington has eschewed this idea entirely, and has decided that its symbol of love and respect to those who gave all in the great struggle for freedom shall be purely artistic; so we have this beautiful edifice of the purest white marble, reaching into the blue, surmounted by a bronze that is going to lend character and dignity to its surroundings. It will be one of the sights of the city, and one of the artistic possessions of the Dominion. SACRILEGE.

Wellington is not blessed with many memorials of the kind. The happiest perhaps, is the Queen Victoria of Alfred Drury, R.A., which stands in the Kent Terrace reserve, a very handsome full-length bronze of the great Queen in her full maturity. This statue was some six years ago mellowing to a lovely olive green, when someone in authority conceived the idea of giving it a coat of paint. Probably not in the history of bronze statuary has such an act of sacrilege been offered to a statue except when it has been done wantonly, as was the case when the Epstein panels were besmirched in Hyde Park. The Wellington case was the more egregious blunder, as it was done in the gross est ignorance .The bronze Pegasus asd Youth Victorious of Mr R. 0. Gross has been beautifully “greened” by the action of the air, and nothing should be done to remove that mellow tone. Indeed, when the bronze was proposed to be lifted yesterday in order to ascertain the exact shape of the base, the sculptor himself asked the workmen to graze the piece as little as.possible with their ropes, as it would remove the “skin” and reveal the bright bronze beneath. A GREAT CONCEPTION.

This piece of statuary was revealed to the public gaze for the first time last week, when it was unboxed alongside the Memorial on Lambton Quay. Those present were really thrilled by the artistry and proportions of the piece, which is approximately double life size, but more impressve thaii anything is the vitality and spirit which the sculptor has projected into his conception of this symbol in everlasting bronze. It is a winged Pegasus of heroic proportions, mighty of muscle, strong,, virile, and magnificently purposeful, standing defiant upon an eminence, in bold action, its proud disdainful head held hard back by the reins of its rider, a youth in the nude, who with head thrown back, points with his fully extended right arm and hand to the blue above his head. Spurned by the fore-feet of the steed are the spoils of war—cannon, a machine gun, helmets, banners and a war drum.

The significance of the whole piece is that the Youth of New Zealand won to victory in the Great War, and that it fought, not for material gain or self aggrandisement, but for the glorious ideals of liberty, freedom and justice as between nations, but realising that the net results of tlie victory are in a measuse as ashes in the mouth, Youth still reaches after its ideals—a world of peace, prosperity, progress and happiness.

The vigour and strength of Mr Gross’s conception, the fine proportions and the easy adaptability, the pose of the youth to the action of the prancing steed is in accord with the best traditions. The committee of the Royal Academy of ' last year thought sufficiently of the piece to accord a model of it pride of place in the courtyard of Burlington House during tlie annual show, and that distinguished critic, Frank Rutter said it was the best thing of its kind turned out in England in thirty years. Sir William Gascomb John, R.A., said it was -sufficient praise that the Royal Academy should have given the statue tlie central place in the courtyard last year. . A BRONZE SHELL. The piece as it stands measures 14ft 6in. from the bottom of tlie base to the tip of the youth’s fingers, and is lilt in length, it weighs about 3* tons. As with all such statues, the bronze is “cored” ; that is to say, it is hollow. The bronze shell is from three-eights of an inch to an inch in thickness, the heavier metal • being used where strength is required. Were such a piece cast in solid broirte it would defeat itself, for the weight would be about a- hundred tons, and it would he almost impossible to devise supports within the figures strong enough to uphold the weight of metal. As it is the bronze legs of the horse are reinforced with steel rods. Mr Gross .stated yesterday that the clay model, from which the bronze was cast, weighed four tons, so that the weight of the piece in solid metal could lie imagined.

Mr Gross learned bis art in London. As a young man lie left bis home town of Barrow-in-Furness, in Lancashire, and made his way to London, where lie studied sculpture, and, to use his own expression, “starved, and groaned and sweated” his way through the studios, but gives most credit to Albert Toft, the distinguished English sculptor. Before starting in on his

work lie visited Italy and France and studied the masterpieces of herioc sculpture, there, ■ hut the net result as expressed in the Wellington War Memorial is his best credential to fame. The piece was cast by A. B. Burton, oi Thames Ditton. This work was not done m one piece, but in several sections, the pieces being joined later with molten metal. TWO BRONZE PANELS.

Besides the symbolic figure, which is to stand upon the marble shaft at a height above tlie road level of 67 feet, there are two very fine bronze panels, each lift. Gin. bv sft., the designs of which are significant of the business, commercial, sentimental and domastic sacrifices made by those who gave up their lives in the Great War. Yesterday the shape of the bottom of the casting was taken in three-ply wood, so as to get exactly the pos tion of the. bolt-holes, and it is expected that it will not he hoisted to its place until towards the end ot the week.