ACADEMY BANQUET

Hokitika Guardian, 23 June 1932, Page 3

ACADEMY BANQUET

MR CHURCHILL AS! CRITIC

AN ENTERTAINING SPEECH

LONDON, June 18

At the Royal Academy oanquut, where Prince George was the principal guest, -Mr Winston Cuurcnill im.de an entertaining ispeech m win. h lie descrioeu some of the works of the “N„ltional Academy” at Westminster .

Mr Ciiurclinl, m proposing!? the toast of the ‘.‘Royal Academy ul Arts,” said lie should like Lo . Lejl them about another “Academy”—tScl “Nation.! Academy” which residey-sa! Westminster - '

“The National Governrricn't/W**n)ib said, “has a great deal m Hrimnibn with the Royal Academy.' It' is Wot, so ancient, and it may not live sd long but it meets an indubitable public need, and -it embraces —I aril riot quite sure the word eiribrares is well chosen— every style and shade .<<l political artislv. “I must tell von some of brir lead-

ing political . painters. I'ii sl id'"bid, there is the Prime .Minister,;''How glad we are all to learn that liis health j 6 so. much better, llis'wrirk:. are well known ; we -all regret '-'they are not more frequently visible •at Home.

“He has been exhibiting so 'inrich in foreign galleries lately .tliaf. "e rather miss his production, 3. here" We believe that on the Continent'.' lie has several most important liiasleijnectis still unhappily “in -an unfihished condition, and we look forward hope. 11II.V to their arrival and to his- return. “1 have watched for many years the Prinmc Minister’s style and methods. For a long time I thought there was a good de-al too much vermilion in liis pictures. All those h:r;d sun soils of capitalist civilisation began rather, to pall on 111 c, and I am very glad to see he lias altered Ids style so fundamentally. We like his modern vie very much better than the earlier methods. “Then there is the Lord • Vresident of the Council, who is still quite a distinguished painter in our ,v‘Acft“emy. If. I were to criticise him „-.-at ■II I would say bits work lacked ; ia little in colour, -and also was a. little lacking in the precise definition. ;of objects in the foreground.-"He, too, has changed in hie later life, and he has '•hanged not - drily liis style; hut also his subject. “We all miss very much the jolly eld English pi cures vhirth'fie used to liaint—the- Aybrcestershire -farm, pigs in cloven broccoli in aiitumn,. and,

•I'ove all. we have missed just now that subject which ‘ no pencil could have done more justice to than Mr Baldwin brewing the' arid it ale: 1 ' 1 , “Making a fair criticinm, I must* admit there'is something very - reposeful about the half-tones of liis twilight studies. “We' have in, our ‘Academy’ the Dominions Secretary, wlio -represents a very fruity kind of Cubism. Some people find it shocking; others say it lacks conviction. '• h:it‘is a very seri--11,3 criticism, "isn’t it? B’ t nevertheless. it is a most interesting contribution to our national show.

“You will want to ;;sk me lmw it.'-is I am not exhibiting tier, season. Whins it I have not got a row of important pictures on the line -at my ‘Academy? I will lie perfectly fr'nk. I make no concealment. I had “seine differences with the committee'--'-(laughter)—with the “Hanging C'f-iiL mitten.’ Luckily, in our ease, thei; powers are limited so f r n« I am cneerned. and 1 am not i,u'imittin_r_ :'n',y of mv works for their approval this year. (Laughter.) “I have joined the teaching profession. We have a sort of ‘Kind School’ at Westminster, e very fine lot of young students, limst ardent, and with much before them—tc learn.

“I am endeavouring to assist them in acquiring a knowledge of Parliamentary technique, so I have a lew things on my easel which I hope om day to present to the public.”. (Laughter and cheers.)