THE ARTS IN THE MODERN WORLD

Southland Times, Issue 24832, 26 August 1942, Page 3

THE ARTS IN THE MODERN WORLD

Sir—lt was with mingled thoughts of delight and appreciation that I left the Women’s Club rooms last Saturday night after hearing the lecture on “Civilization and the Future of the Arts” given by Dr A. H. McLintock of Otago University. Interwoven with these thoughts of mine was the regret that the public of Invercargill did not patronize this lecture and this section of the University Association of Southland in their hundreds. It is quite apparent that Invercargill depends on the support of the country people from the commercial point of view. Similarly I feel certain that with the lively interest in music which has been obvious in the country districts of Southland during the past three or four years, had it not been for the shortage of petrol the country people would show in no small measure a keen and appreciative interest in such a lecture, as well as in such an organization. The dignity of life and of human nature has been ruthlessly trampled upon many'times in the history of the human race, but never more viciously than today. Beastly thoughts are inculcated in the minds of men by means of powerful propaganda, let loose by governments which hold the power of life and death over every subject. In such circumstances it requires an almost superhuman effort to retain any poise, any semblance of human dignity, any consciousness of human worth. One cannot say that the peace which men crave, the poise which men need, and the power without which men suffer frustration and defeat, are to be found only through the arts. But these arts have their great and effective service to render. Art strikes straight to some separate aesthetic inner being. It provides as fundamental an approach to the spirit as those other two unexplainable highroads, love and religious experience. I cannot venture here any speculation about how close together, or how distinct, these three phenomena may be; I feel, however, that no man has lived his spiritual life to the full if he has not experienced widely of all three. Any normal man or woman can experience the life-giving, inspiring, souluplifting influence of the arts. If men will hear and believe testimony to the service the arts can render them, we shall have a much wider and sounder support of the development of art in the life of New Zealand—support for its inclusion in the curricula of primary and high schools and universities, for its inspiring practice in galleries, theatres, concert chambers, and, most important of all, in our own homes. STUDENT.