“Too Much Humbug in Modern Art”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 189, 31 October 1927, Page 14

“Too Much Humbug in Modern Art”

Lady Alice is Frank ADVICE TO SKETCH CLUB Among the artistic possessions of Lady Alice Fergusson, wife of the Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, are a number of sketches which she painted as a girl in the Auckland Domain on the North Shore and at other places surrounding the city. “I happened to come across them just before we left England,” Lady Alice informed members .of . the Auckland Sketch Club when opening their annual show on Saturday, “and just how bad they were I would not like to tell you. Yet they recalled many, many pleasant associations of my early life in New Zealand.” Lady Alice also recollected how she had the humiliating experience of having one of her sketches repeatedly placed upside down by a conscientioLis maid after she had dusted her room. Therefore, her Excellency appealed, above all, for sincerity in art; directness, simplicity, and “understandable stuff!” (Laughter.) Lady Alice was accompanied by her sister, Lady Augusta Inskip, and attended by Miss Dugdale. She was met by the chairman of the Sketch Club, Mr. W. Page Rowe, and Mrs. Rowe; the president of the Society of Arts, Mr. A. S. Boyd, and Mrs. Boyd, and Miss Copeland, the club secretary. Though her Excellency did not have an opportunity of viewing the exhibits in daylight owing to her hurried departure last night for Wellington, she made a careful scrutiny of the work before leaving the building. “There are several sketches here that I would be very proud to own,” remarked Lady Alice, who herself is an enthusiastic sketcher. SINCERITY THE KEYNOTE There was far too much humbug in art these days. Not only in painting, said her Excellency, but in poetry, and other mediums of artistic expression as well. Sincerity should be the keynote in art. “The Old Masters who are above controversy,” she explained, “were never in doubt as to what they intended to convey. They were always understandable.” Mr. Rowe welcomed Lady Alice, and on behalf of the club, thanked her for the honour she had conferred by declaring the exhibition open.