AUCKLAND SOCIETY OF ARTS.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 476, 31 May 1890, Page 5

AUCKLAND SOCIETY OF ARTS.

THE CONVERSAZIONE

OPENING SPEECHES.

Auckland, May 23. The function ab bhc Choral Hall last night on the opening of the annual exhibition of the Auckland Society of Arts was brilliant and successful. There was a good attendance of ncknowledgedly fair women and presumably brave men who walked around admiring the pictures, gossiping and flirting. At about eight o’clock the President made his inaugural speech. It was somewhat lengthy, and people at the far end of tho hall began to fidget and whisper so that hearing was a matter of difficulty. Once, indeed, Mr Mackechnic had to stop and request silence. He began by saying that the fact of the Exhibition being later this year was to be regretted, in that Lord and Lady Onslow were notable bo be present, bub a gain, inasmuch as several artisbs, notably Miss Dobson and Mr Payton, had been able to prepare fresh work. He did not wish to enter into criticism, but he thought he might say that the artists had put much earnest and honest work into their pictures. Ruskin had said that painting was nothing but a noble and expressive language. The President took this as a sorb of text, and gave a long discourse on the similitude of the artist and author. The lovely creations of artistic minds were expressed in form and colour upon the material before them by the skilled but mechanical action of the hand. The great writer embodied his thoughts in words, and placed before us bis noble conceptions in unsurpassed beauty of language. The pen, it was true, did nob impart actual form and colour to a word picture, but by appropriate expressions these qualities are suggested and become apparent to the mind’s eye. Painters emulated with equal success the excellencies of word compositions, and placed before us many a noblo vision of nature under every aspect. Air Mackechnie dwelt some time on these points. Some people, he declared, preferred the objects of nature faithfully copied; and others, still sticking closely to nature, preferred to idealise her. Only those who could appreciate poetry and had an imaginative mind could enjoy the latter to the uttermost. A counter part of the imaginative school of Turner and his contemporaries would bo found in tho works of the best writers.

The President then spoke at length on the works of Whistler. Some people did not appreciate them, and others even condemned them as unfinishsd and crude. Bub all Whistler’s power lay in colour. The finest thought lay hidden in his nocturnes and symphonies, much inthesame way as beautiful thoughts lay bidden in Browning’s poetry. After dwelling some time on the art of Whistler, tho speaker said that in his opinion some acquaintance with art should form part of the education of the masses, for it withdrew from the coarser pleasures of life and opened up a pure and delightful field of enjoyment. In an Act passed last session a grant was made by the Government to the Canterbury Society of Arts of a site for their Art Gallery. Some such concession might reasonably be expected for their Society, which had done so much to encourage the growth of art in Auckland. Or he suggested the Government might be induced, like those of sister colonies, to grant a sum of money for the purchase of works of arts to be hung in the Art Gallery. The average uneducated mind could not appreciate a fine picture. By way of closing, the speaker quoted a long extract from Ruskin anenb Lanscer’s masterpiece—- “ The Shepherd’s Chief Mourner’’—and then announced that Air Christie AJurray would say a few words, a statement which was received with enthusiasm.

Mr Murray was received with a burst of applause when he stepped forward on to the platform. He began by observing quaintly chat Auckland* rs would hear enough of his voice, and that alone should prompt him to be brief. He had too, himself, suffered such ghastly experiences from the awful experiments made by his follow creatures that he had a horror of public speaking, and was cjpposed fo be merciful. (Laugh 1 ter.) ' He spoke as an artist to artists, that in fact' being the sole r.aison d'etre of his presence, and he had a few words of comfort and pounsol to givp. He would take the pomfort first. Jt haff been a long beli f of liis ’{.hqt honest labour qfter excellenpe >yas its own best am) holiest reward, (Applause •) It was np Jcicqh de parlei , hup tp any peally aptistic person \,hs loftjest and simplest trirtli. 44 3rt-, he deplarpd, was a representation of nature. The wildest flights of imagination could not cany us beyond her boundaries. And she was such a delightful mistress, this nature, so changing, yet so staple that no human mistress could equal her. Mr Murray then dwelt on the joys and sorrows of artistic life. It was, as yet, perhaps, a lot austere, as Hooper had said, but it would not always be so. He said that New Zealand was the painter’s paradise. In no other country in the world could such various beauties be found. The (out ensemble of New Zealand scenery, inland and seashore, mountains and valleys, was unrivalled. In his word of counsel, Mr Murray besought his fellow artists to remember the motto, “ Avs lomja, vita breris." Let them reverence their art, go down on their knees to it. Let them remember how short was the time, how much there w’as to do. How little they were to the work before them, how small the amount they could learn. The man who counted himself equal to his art was, in his opinion, good for little. They must make art their best-loved mistress, their highest ideal. He concluded with a quotation from his ow’n work's : “ Labour, humility, patience patience', humility, labour,' these’ three make commonplace pass for genjus,' oftentimes they make genius Resplendent. ■’ This finp and pretty speech was received with great applause, and provided 'a staple subject of copvepsat.joq during the evening; THE EXHIBITS. Passing o.i to our notice of the best pictures, we continue at the point where it was so summarily cut off yesterday. Miss M. Henneas’ still life study—some apples, acocoanut, Cape gooseberries and glass arranged in most admired disorder on a white table cloth—is very clever, and well deserving of a good look. The glass is particularly well done. Some of the fruit throws a little too much shadow on the cloth, which is, by the way, a very very starchy one. The technique right through, with slight exceptions, is most excellent. There has, too, been more art than is usual in still life pictures displayed in the choosing and arrangement of the fruit. The construction is distinctly good. “ On the Waikato River,” by Mr T. L. Drummond, is a most delightful landscape in oils. The technique here is admirable, and the treatment of water and sky remarkably good. There is a freshness about it that is very delightful.- • i The head of an Italian, which hangs just abbvo iti .a little to the left, is another of MieaPobSQn’a works. Mb is not sq taking m a . r • ; . • -

as some of the other works she shows, but it undoubtedly is the finest piece of work. In some of tho others she seems occasionally to have lapsed into carelessness of drawing, generally only to a very small extent, but still it is there. Here the drawing is really fine and the colouring superb. It is a thoroughly good picture, good in the Lett sense of the word, for it is full of artistic effort and conscientious work.

The next striking picture is the one which has won the silver medal, be ng the best picture sent in for competition. It certainly deserved it. Air Walter Wright may feel justly pr.ud of “ Waiting,” as his picture is called. It represents one of our Auckland luggage porters waiting for a job outside the Railway Station. The construction of tho picture, the prosing, and everything except the sky, u hicb is a thought too vivid even for New Zealand, is perfect. It is a perfect little gem. There is a lazy look about the man which is admirably pourtray ed. No one could look at the picture without siniiing. There is a hidden humour in it that is very enticing. Mr Goldie’s still life study, which we noticed very favourably when it was hung in the Academy of Arts, has a good place just below “ Waiting.” Those who have not seen it before will find it worth looking at; those who have seen it will probably look again without any hint. Passing the door without going into No. 2 room, wo come to Mrs Stoddarb’s water colour—“ Gloire do Dijon Roses.” It is aR most unnecessary to say that they aro worth looking ab, even on a crush night. Airs Stoddarb is facile pn'it ceps in the painting of flowers, and perhaps better in roses than anything else. On this occa.-ion her Gloire de Dijoii3 are perfect in their kind. There is an amount of refinement in the painting of the blooms anti foliage which could scarcely be excelled. There is one fruit in the construction of the picture, however. It is almost overweighted with foliage on the left. A very beautiful landscape by Air E. AJ. Payton is hung just below a little to the left. It is called “The .Site of Owen Glendower’s 'lowers on the Dee,” and is as typical a piece of Welsh landscape as the heart of artist or amateur could wish to see. Mr Payton had a beautiful bit to paint from, and he lias done it justice. The rushing water in the foreground and biie purple mountain in the distancearetriumphsof the water-colorist’sart. Passing several pretty and admirable works, which time will nob allow us to study, tho next picture to arrest our attention is Mr F. Wi ights watercolouron tho Waikato. It is the finest piece of water colour work the writer has seen in the colonies. The picture represents a backwater on the Waikato. A small strip of land covered with cabbage trees and bush intervenes between it and the main river. In tho distance are the mountains. In construction the picture is perfect, a beautiful work. Space will nob allow of a lengthy criticism now, but later on we shall have more to say anenb this picture and others exhibited by the artist. One of these—the next picture of any great importance is entitled “The Close of the Day,” and represents some far-off corner of the New Zealand bush near a small river.

Ibis just after sunset, and the shadows are beginning to full in the heavy bush. Tho sky has a red transparent hue melting into the peculiar green which is one of the characteristics of New Zealand sunsets. Without interfering with this transparency, Air Wright manages to enforce the denseness of the bush in a very remarkable way. In the frontground is a stream in which are standing some large dark boulders. The amount of solidity that the artist lias managed to throw into them against the water’s edge is really very good. Such power is se'dom seen in water colour.

Turning another corner, the top of the rcom is reached, and here far and away the most important picture is—by Miss .1. Wimperis. It is christened “The Hutnboits, near Wakatipu,” t .nd represents the splendid range of snow-clad mountains with a characteristic river foreground. It is really a grand piece of work. As far as distance effect goes, the artist is far ahead of any picture in the exhibition. The technique of the snowy ranges receding milts back is really wonderful, and arouses the highest admiration. The foreground of the picLure is not so goed. The artist lias attempted to portray the green slime floating on the water. It is too hard, and in the immediate foreground out of prqpor: tion. The atmosphere has not been suffi: ciently considered, with the rpsujt that thp patches of slime appear to be r aised out of the water instead of floating on it. There is nothipg particularly striking now till the last corner is reached, where there is a remarkably clever portrait by It. C. Paykipson. A few steps further on is an even better work from the brush of the same artist. It is modestly called a life study, and represents a bushman seated, holding a letter in his hand, which is almost hidden between Ike knee?. The attitude is reposeful and natural, the drawing and colouring good, and the character expressed irt the face and figure capital. “A Sea-Washed Cliff,” by John Gibb, is a fine spirited piece of sea painting, and makes an admirable companion to Mr Drummond’s “Easterly Gale in Summer on YVhangarei Heads.” In the latter work Mr Drummond has broken away fromjhis conventionalisms somewhat. Generally one can tell at a glance which arc his pictures, but one would hesitate about this one. It is a splendid piece of work too, full of power and strong spirited painting. A small pastel by Miss Dobson brings us round to the entrance door again. It is called “The Little Ihvalkl,” and shoivs a refinement of treatment which one would hardly have expected from one who [iractised the bold school sosirccessfully. It speaks Vyel 1 for Miss Dobson’s ability that she can produce such a dashing painting as “ The P ; ebu(ante ” apd’sqch a gem of delicate ’ pastel as “The Jfittle Inyajid.-’ Tflefe is po fault to be found with the (Rawing, ejtlier, ip tllP letter. Everything shows care apd good work. Taken altogether, the exhibition is a marvellously good one, and those who are fortunate enough to have tickets must be congratulated on the treat they will have this evening.