ART FUTURE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 673, 27 May 1929, Page 14

ART FUTURE

Auckland Society Needs New Gallery ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT

The necessity for the Auckland Society of Arts having a permanent gallery of its own was stressed by the president, Dr. E. B. Gunson, in an address broadcast from station IYA on Saturday evening. Dr. Gunson, in a short historical survey, said that the Kitchener Street gallery, which had been sold two years ago, had been built on the society’s property with the capital and accumulated interest of the £2,500 bequest of the late Charlotte Henrietta McKechnie. Ic was stipulated that the building should be used for the exhibition of pictures, when such exhibitions were held by the society; for the housing of pictures by colonial artists intended for sale, and for any other art purposes having the approval of the trustees. The society appreciated the necessity for a new gallery and its erection was further desirable to enable the society to comply with the terms of the McKechnie bequest. There was urgent need for a gallery which would enable colonial artists to show pictures for sale. This would be an immense encouragement/to art, and at the same time would overcome the difficulty caused by the rejection of pictures from the society’s annual shojv. The show standard had been raised, and consequently there was a much higher standard in the rejected work.

A new building could also be used for one-man shows, and for exhibitors of prints and arts and crafts. For this the society would have to depend upon public support for success.

Dr. Gunson went on to say that the Library Committee of the City Council, under the chairmanship of Miss Ellen Melville, had assisted in this direction last year, when special exhibitions were held at the city art gallery. The committee and the Arts Society were working with a common purpose, and co-operation, therefore, was desirable.