CORRUPTION OF TASTE
Sir-I do not agree with Vernon Brown that the subject of the article by A. R. D. Fairburn, "The Corruption of Taste," is becoming stale through repetition. In Britain, yes, but something has been done about it there, In New Zealand the patient has suffered for long without complaint. Until he complains the physician cannot diagnose or prescribe a cure. At last, with the voice of A. R. D. Fairburn, and through the medium of your journal, he has done so. With Vernon Brown’s diagnosis I agree, and with some of his cure, namely,
that a body be-set up such as a Society of Industrial Arts. He does not make clear what he means by "creating a new aristocracy." In his analysis of Industrial design in Britain the aristocracy he speaks of was all that the word implies, They do not exist as such to-day and it would be impossible to create one in! ‘New Zealand. The recent reforms which have taken place in Britain are on an industrial basis, catering for the -tniddle and lower classes. Precisely as Vernon Brown says, we are the same middle and lower class here. I gather that he means an aristocracy of taste which would form the homes of an Industrial Society of Arts (I would in-. clude the tradesman of taste who is all too often dispirited at turning out shoddy for the "boss" without taste), holding ‘ ons showing us that better designed . houses and furniture are‘ possible. Té this we must be made designconscious in the same way as we seem . to be becoming music-conscious. Only then will a Society of Industrial Arts have the necessary foundation to build on and function without succumbing after a brief career. Some authoritative body such as, may I suggest. the NZBS, could, if it would, help Industrial Art in New Zealand.
MAY
SMITH
(Gisborne).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 417, 20 June 1947, Page 5
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313CORRUPTION OF TASTE New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 417, 20 June 1947, Page 5
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