ARTISTS CANNOT AFFORD TO BE SLACK

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 253, 28 April 1944, Page 18

ARTISTS CANNOT AFFORD TO BE SLACK

"If Beauty Is Not Discernible At Lyttelton, It Is Vain To Look For It At Lugano’’-

Says PROF.

J. N.

FINDLAY

in this talk under the auspices of the Sunlight League, broadcast from 3YA

HAVE been asked to speak to you for a few minutes on the place of Art in post-war New Zealand. Now this title suggests that there is something not alto‘gether satisfactory about the place of Art in pre-war New Zealand, and that we must attempt to remedy this in the general shake-up that will doubtless follow the war. . .. But it would be true to say that most pre-war New Zealanders didn’t like creative art, that it filled them with frank embarrassment or

uncomfortable awe, that it didn’t seem to them to be a part of our normal life in common, nor as the natural outlet of a natural impulse. Rather they thought of it as something strained, difficult and superfluous, the perquissite of queer people and the idol of a secret gang of connoisseurs and experts. And _ they found palatable and

soothing a kind of art that put no strain on anyone’s appreciation, that was so readily assimilated that one hardly even noticed it, that reflected ordinary ideas and commonplace sentiments, and that seemed brightly pretty and brightly hideous, according as one could or couldn’t stomach it. And they hung things on their walls or put them in their window-ledges either because it was customary to do so, or because they thought it reflected credit on them socially, or merely because they had seen them displayed in great multitudes behind shiny glazed windows. All of which means that we in New Zealand were still submerged, before the war, in that great flood of crude taste which was inevitably bound up with the first use of machinery, a flood which was certainly the worst in history, but which is now abating in the present century with our new-found mastery over the machine. How Do We Begin? Now what are the means by which genuinely inspiring and significant art may. become an integral part of the ordinary life of New Zealanders? I shall confine myself, in the short time at my disposal, to the schools, the picturegalleries, and the local societies of artists. It seems clear, first of all, that some acquaintance with Art is an essential part of any modern scheme of education, and though it may be difficult to fit new subjects into our crammed curricula, we can nevertheless do something in the matter. There is, for instance, no reason why our schools should not build up a more or less comprehensive collection of prints and photographs of the vital art of various countries and periods, why children should not be surrounded with carefully selected and

PEP PPP PLP LLP APLPLPLOLe varied displays, and why they should not be given some notion of the reasons why certain works of art are considered great achievements. For our indifferent taste in New Zealand is largely due to the fact that children in their formative years do not see the

works of major artists, or do not see them in sufficient numbers, or see only a few arbi-trarily-chosen masterpieces which are quite meaningless by themselves, and which have been so frequently reproduced in the past, that it would almost be a_ godsend if we buried. them and _ forgot. them for a period.

But if we show large numbers of pictures to New Zealand children, we shall, of course, have to make a psychologically proper selection, we shall have to have regard to what children of different ages are capable of admiring, and what the New Zealand child, in particular, is likely to find interesting. A picture of St. Sebastian pierced with arrows, gazing tranquilly on architecture and blue Italian distances, will scarcely be appropriate for the young New Zealand child, whereas sequences that tell stories, vivid pictures of communal activities in bygone ages, as well as simple domestic interiors, may very well prove suitable. The whole subject of children’s art appreciation at various ages is, in any case, something that has been scientifically investigated, and that we can investigate further in regard to our own background and conditions. But it would be truly horrible if anyone were to do for Michelangelo what unenlightened pedagogy has so often done for Shakespeare. Local Art I should suggest further that local art should play e large part in any educational programme. For the local artist is the man who picks out whatever is arresting or significant in a given environment, and enables those who live in that environment to take note of it and enjoy it. And even if he is less eminent than a foreign artist, he is doing something for a community that a foreign artist cannot possibly do. And it is very important that a child should be responsive to the elements of form and beauty in the vegetation, landscapes, houses, faces, and social customs that are always with it, and that it should (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) mot associate beauty exclusively with marble statues that have lost their vivid colour in the lapse of ages, or with representations of far-away cities and landscapes that it will probably never see. For if beauty is not discernible at Lyttelton, it is vain to look for it at Lugano. Nor would it be difficult to find artists who would conduct children over local art-exhibitions, or who would bring collections of paintings to the schools. I shall not enter here into any discussion of the possibility or desirability of extending our instruction in the actual practice of art. I shall only plead for a more psychological approach in these matters, and shall give it as my opinion that far more people could design, model, or paint than are in any way aware of it, that representation is practically an instinct, and develops naturally in a large proportion of individuals if it is not killed by unsuitable art-instruction, and that many of us might be pleasanter and less neurotic if we had artistic interests. Art Galleries Having said something of the function of education in promoting artappreciation, I shall now say something about the part that might be played by art-galleries.. Now it is not at all easy to be enthusiastic about our New Zealand art-galleries, or to feel that they measure up to modern needs. The things unsatisfactory about them are too numerous to mention: they are remote, stuffy, static, and academic without possessing the art-treasures that might excuse such defects. Though they contain some fine individual works, their general selection is not what it should be. They have failed lamentably in their primary functions of providing a comprehensive store-house of local art; an overseas visitor anxious to see how New Zealand looks to the New Zealanders would find little in them that might not be better seen in Glasgow or in Birmingham. And even the overseas canvases for which so much has been said are not as interesting as they might be. For they have not been picked out by people who were keen to spot __ genius in unlikely places, but by people’ who: were determined above all things

to play safe. Now even the merest moneymaking art dealer could tell you that the wholly safe and reputable art of one generation is necessarily the dull and faded art of the ensuing generation. And _ unfortunately,

there is much too much dul! and faded art in our galleries which might very well be retired to basements. The Art of Showing And I should like to comment further on the fact that we have much to learn of the modern art of showing pictures. For one isn’t showing pictures properly if one crowds them in oppressive masses and gives the beholder all the labour of separating and seeing them. The old crowded gallery, where everything was displayed and nothing altered, and where there was no principle in exhibition but historical or local links, is something that should be (continued .on next page)

ART IN POST-WAR NEW ZEALAND

(continued from previous page) relegated to the past with the thumbscrew and the tread-mill: it can never make Art palatable to any but a small army of martyrs, who are willing to have tottering legs and brains in the quest of beauty. I, myself, belong to that army, but I don’t think many _ people can be expected to join it. It is essential in a modern gallery to have ever-changing exhibits, to bring them together in new combinations to illustrate particular themes, to have them few and far between, and beautifully set out and lighted. We

have in this respect, an immense amount to _ learn, especially from the Americans, for if the majority of the earth’s arttreasures are to be found in the galleries and museums of Europe, the Americans have

certainly developed the art of showing art-treasures beyond any other people. One is struck dumb by the way in which their galleries are thronged by appreciative thousands, without being in any way unsuitable for connoisseurs or students: they are not merely the costly, unused monuments to national pride that one so often sees in other countries. We should certainly send our custodians abroad for a long period of study, both in Europe and America: we have long recognised the need of such study in the case of libraries, and it remains to recognise it in the case of art-galleries. The Artist and His Price I wish to say a word about the function of our local art-societies in postwar New Zealand. I think there are a number of ways in which they could , manage to make themselves a more living influence. I would suggest, first of all, that local artists should systematic. ally lower their prices. For it is a melancholy fact that, though gentlemanly tastes are still extant among us, the gentlemanly purse exists no longer: we are all as poor as church-mice: no New Zealander, except possibly a publican or a doctor, could afford to pay 15 guineas for anything that was not a sheer necessity. I think, further, that loancollections of local pictures might, with some pushing, be rendered very popular, and that local art might be brought before the public in smaller, more continuous,. more accessible, and more varied exhibitions. For though annual shows and private views may make a temporary splash, they are of little value if we follow them with 11 months of quiescence. : The local artist is a man engaged in a fight like St. George with the dragon: he cannot afford to be slack. He must oust from our walls the old monks at their revels, the old Tudor cottages surrounded by rose-gardens, as well as those loosely-clad Greek ladies wandering improbably among temples and peacocks in a landscape suggestive of the Norwegian fiords, And no one who (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) knows anything of the hold that these creations have on popular taste, is likely to imagine that the going will be easy. I have tried to put before you several ways in which Art may become a living influence in post-war New Zealand. I have no doubt that there is a very great deal of latent artistic understanding in this country, and I am also quite sure that we can draw on many generous sources, both in this country and abroad, to help in our endeavours. But of course the people closely connected with art-institutions and with art generally, will have to clamour loudly in the first instance if they are to make their voices heard in the post-war pandemonfum of demands.