Auckland Sketch Club

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 188, 29 October 1927, Page 9

Auckland Sketch Club

LADY ALICE FERGUSSON WILL OPEN THE THIRD ANNUAL EXHIBITION AT TO-NIGHT'S “PRIVATE VIEW** SUCCESSFUL YEAR’S WORK There is something essentially Auckland about a pohtutukawa tree. And when old Rangitoto. grim sentinel of the channel, his sombre head bathed in the kindly afternoon glow, peers from behind a group of Christmas trees, their ripe red blooms as yet unopened, well, it IS Auckland. Y than his measure of attention n the Sketch Club's exhibition, which

Lady Alice Fergusson will open to-night. V' a r from it. There are some superior people who scoff at Rangitoto when he graces an Auck--1 a IX 2 Still. Rangitoto is Auckland, if Auckland is not Rangitoto. As a matter of

fact there are Mr. Page-Rowe really far too many landscapes in the show. There is an absence of figure work which is much to bo regretted. N club has every reason to feel satisfied with the voar's output which approximates 200 sketches, and there is quality as well as quantity on the walls in the Dilworth Building. There is also an absence of streets scenes, or glimpses of our waterfron; —a veritable paradise for painters—subjects that might well have been drawn upon by members. However, the club is performing a valuable service. It is deserving of every encouragement. Mr. Page Rowe and his committee are to be congratulated on their Third exhibition. ART IN AUCKLAND A few faithful souls imbued with that enthusiasm which is said to move mountains have accomplished much in a community distinctly phlegmatic as far as art expression is concerned. In a show where little originality of treatment is evident the work «*f Minnie F. White is a refreshing exception. Upon the Auckland landscape this painter directs an Australian experience with light, and strung*as it may seem, the result is distinctly pleasing. There is likewise a delicacy of colour in the majority of her subjects which is quite individual us far as this exhibition is concerned. “The Lone Tree.” “Auckland From a Distance,” and “Evening,” are W aitakere sketches well worth inspection; they all possess this fugitive quality which Miss White has mastered. Th«oils portrait sketch, one of the few such attempts on view, is ambitious. There are tlesh tints to recommend it, as well as drawings. Yet. to my mind. Miss White’s medium is water-colours. “Ifs,” a charcoal impression, is one of the few waterfront figure-studies in the show.

There is an irresistible appeal about Hilda Wiseman’s still liiv. “KowbaJs.” Bold in treatment, it is eminently successful. “Afternoon Glow,” a delicate little gem, is one of the best guinea’s worth in the show. “Play,” wherein two cats gambol on an autumn-tinted branch, is both distinctly decorative and admirably composed. GOLDEN WARMTH Ive Copeland is another prolific worker. “A Colour Note,” a still life in oils in which a bowl of zinnias rear their stiff heads in front of a blue plate, is so” dly treated. It is a distinct contrast to “Castor Bay from Milford,” a little oils study in which Miss Copeland has been particularly successful in reproducing the atmospheric conditions; the sombre “One Tree Hill from Titirangi”; or “From Our Cottage Window at Titirangi,” in which the tree-ferns, by no means an easy subject, in this case are handled decorativelv. Miss Copeland also gives her favourite blue full scope in the Manukau sketch. “Trees in Evening Light” is Ivy Perry’s most ambitious attempt. Yet. I prefer the simplicity of her “Pines,” a delightful little composition, direct, and carefully drawn. —ERIC RAMSDEN.