Art in New Zealand

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 443, 19 December 1947, Page 16

Art in New Zealand

YEAR BCOK OF THE ARTS, 1947. Edited by Howard Wadman. H. H. Tombs Ltd. (Wellington).

(Reviewed by

Isobel

Andrews

the best fed, best clad country in the world at the present time. Bodily needs are catered for with an abundance which overflows and. burgeons over in our acres of green pasturage, our fat’ stock, our butter, cheese and fruit. We are in the way. of being the world’s storehouse. No man need go hungry in|New Zealand to-day. No child need be without a winter overcoat or a new bathing suit. If the mere satisfaction of physical needs is a major requirement of human happiness, New Zealand is a good country to live in. But intelligent human beings need more than this. Physical contentment is not enough. Man needs more, for his soul’s sake, than sufficient food, sufficient clothing and a roof over his head. The things of the mind, the appurtenances of what we call our civilisation -the creative impulses, the craving for an adequate form of self-expression, are latent to a lesser or greater degree in all of us, according to our individual temperaments. This is why Howard Wadman’s latest issue of Year Book of the Arts is a welcome and intelligent addition to our all too few evidences of artistic expression and awareness. The book is broken up into various sections each dealing with a different art form and the reviewing of ‘such is not easy, especially when one has a certain diffidence at being set up as Oracle, plus an importunate deadline to contend with. THE ARTISTS HE visual arts are very well covered and over 60 artists are represented, a few in colour, but thé majority in h ZEALAND is probably

black and white. Viewed with a layman’s eye, Mr. Wadman’s selection seems an excellent one, presenting a diversity of mood and method which can at times become exciting and which enables us to look forward to the progress of art in New Zealand with real interest and hope. Short autobiographical sketches and brief explanations of their various credos are supplied by John Weeks, Archibald Nicoll, T. A. McCormack, Rita Angus, Eric Lee Johnson and’ Mervyn Taylor. I found John Weeks and Eric Lee Johnson particularly interest-ing-Weeks because of the vitality which shines through the rather staccato phrasing, and Eric Lee Johnson because he, of all the others in the book, appears to have imbued his art with some of the meaning and richness of his own country. I must leave specific criticism of individual works to others more competent to analyse and appraise from the purely technical point of view. Personal choice ("I know what I like!") accepts some and rejects others. The limits of the black and white reproductions become irritating when viewing such works as Rita Angus’s arresting self-portrait, or her Goddess of Mercy, but one realises the impossibility of reproducing all the works in colour and must accept the situation as it is. Leo Benseman, Russell Clark, Sam Cairncross, S. B. Maclennan, Colin McCahon, Pearl West, all show their own individualities in their own way, and the collection. as a whole can stand comparison with any similar collection from overseas. OHN WEEKS says, among other things, that "Blind acceptance of the’ best work of the past encourages a lazy mind and results in nothing but weak imitation." This brings me to the one real disappointment I found in this section. In the main our artists, though not weak, are derivative. The lushness

and plenty of the country has not yet caught at their imaginations. Mr, Wadman rather takes the wind out of my sails by dealing most ably with this question in his preface, and my reservation is not levelled at hischoice of pictures, but is a regret that the choice available makes such criticism almost inevitable. To my mind at least, the value of a book like this should lie in the fact that it is a book of New Zealand art, and that we should ‘be able to trace our artists’ inspiration from the New Zealand way of life and the New Zealand scene, just as the art of Grant Wood-to take the first name which comes to mind-so vividly and unmistakably portrays at least a part of the American way of life. Our artists in the main do not yet lead us towards fresh and exciting futures, but tend to delightfully enrich the past. They have not yet learnt to reach out from our green hilltops to grab off something that is their own. Instead they still derive their impetus from older and more established forms. Many of the ‘works here are arresting and satisfactory in themselves, but there are only a few who give us anything that is intrinsically New Zealand. This sounds like a plea for parochialism, but nothing is further from’ my mind, he complete the visual section space L we have some examples of modern architecture, fabric design, sculpture and a glimpse of some of Sam Williams’s design for stage costumes as well as the curtain designed for the Canterbury College , productions, but there is one aspect of pictorial art which Mr. Wadman seems to have overlooked. What of photography? Is George Silk’s "Blinded Soldier" or his "Silly Cow," to be rated at a lower level than Cairncross’s self-portrait or Sam Williams’s Designs because they are recorded with a camera instead of brush and paint? THEATRE EPORTS on the progress of local drama societies in Wellington, Dunedin, Auckland and Christchurch give the impression that the amateur stage is taking its work more seriously than ever before gand that the plays. of Shakespeare, Dekker, Shaw, O’Neill, and such are at last taking precedence over the more shoddy product, while the dawning realisation that sets and costumes are integral parts of the whole and not pieces of superimposed embroidery, points to a more lively and adventurous future, All four articles say more or less the same thing in different ways and the thought arises that a precis of the lot, giving an overall impression of the work of the theatre in New Zealand might be a better idea for the next issue. VERSE ORDON WALTERS’S amusing arrangement of lines and curves called "The Poet" precedes William HartSmith’s sensitive article on poetry in New Zealand. In his dual role of visitor and native son, Mr, Hart-Smith writes clearly about poetry in New Zealand as seen by an expatriate but recently returned. The verse which follows has been chosen by A, R. D. Fairburn, and Mr, Hart-Smith’s remarks in general about New Zealand poetry, applies in the main to this selection, He says, "New Zealand poetry is full of integrity, (continued on next page)

A YEAR OF ART

seriousness, refinement of feeling, though empty of the cruder emotions, and I level this as a criticism because it does not seem to me true of New Zealand and its essential quality, its history, which has many a lusty page." In effect, though with a slightly different emphasis, he _ reiterates what has already been said of our artists. The essential lushpess and gusto of the New Zealand scene has not .yet impinged itself sufficiently on the minds of our creative artists. "The integrity, seriousness and refinement of feeling" evident in the work of Paula Hanger, Allen Curnow, Charles Brasch, Anton Vogt, James Baxter, and Hubert Witheford, are obvious and inescapable, but I think perhaps that here the operative word is "seri-

ousness,"’ or perhaps "refinement," If these unmistakable gifts could be allied to* another which I can enly define as, crudely, gusto, our New Zealand poets would not only rank with the best, but would ‘ead where others would follow. ’ Year Book of the Arts is not a book to be taken lightly. It is a book to be thankful for. It presents a cross-section of thought and idea, of visual and mental imagery which any country would be pleased to claim. I would like to see, in a future issue, an article on the Short Story in New Zealand. I would like to see, in a future issue, some comment on radio and film in New Zealand. All these have a bearing on our cultural existence and cannot be ignored entirely. But this, perhaps, is where one runs counter to Mr. Wadman’s implicit and explicit philosophy of the aristocrat. Mr. Wadman is here. exercising his trained, subtle and urbane sense of selection only in the fields which make the deepest appeal to him as an aristocrat among aristocrats. Could he not, in the future, exercise it too upon all those other less obvious manifestations of the human spirit which flower occasionally in shady corners of The Listener, and even in some of the dailies, instead of catering only for the prepared minds which can appreciate how good it is? "The trouble with Republican meetings," Mrs. Taft observed, "is that only Republicans and their friends come to them." The book itself is very pleasingly presented. H. H. Tombs have carried out their usual meticulous job of printing and it is a volume which should have a place of honour on every bookshelf. Mr. Wadman is to be congratulated on the courage, technical knowledge and sheer hard work which must have gone into the establishing of this

yearly volume, which has now attained its third issue. We look forward to many more. NOTABLE BIRD BOOK NEW ZEALAND BIRD LIFE. By E. G. Turbott. A. H. & A. W. Reed, Wellington. I OST: fortunately books about New Zealand birds and plants published these days are launched on a rising tide of public interest, and (though this is contrary to the conditions of the metaphor) they themselves help to swell the movement. If you wish to interest a boy in the birds of his country-and it is, best to catch them young-give him E.. G. Turbott’s New Zealand Bird Life. If he responds, give him a camera. Written originally for children in the Auckland Star, these chapters on birds of the bush, open country, seashore, and outlying islands, are done in a simple informative. style that will appeal to youngsters and adults alike. The author is a keen observer, as befits the ornithologist at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and has ranged in travel from the Three Kings to the Chathams. He gives the main points in the make-up and habits of a considerable number of birds, -with a journalist’s eye for what will interest the non-scientific reader. Here is exceptional knowledge and deep love of birds, and the result contains lessons for a people who in the past have been careless of their bird inheritance and ignorant or unmindful of the consequences of its destruction. Two pieces of fact.may be picked out from the mass to illustrate the value of the book. "On Little Barrier Island the pigeons (native) knowing they are safe, graze on young clover leaves in the house paddock, waddling over the grass like ducks." And G. M. Thomson, whose work, on acclimatisation is known to few besides students, is quoted as reporting that when sparrows. were imported, the colonists, longing for any(continued on next page)

(continued, from previous page) thing to remind them of their homeland, paid as much as a pound a pair for them! The book is abundantly and often magnificently illustrated. This reviewer, a reader of the Countryman for years, has seen no better photographic bird studies than some of these, particularly the best of G. A. Buddle’s. The author justifiably refers to "the inspired photography of Major G. A. Buddle," who is the chief illustrator. The pictures of a fantail on its nest and a grey warbler outside its nest, are perfect examples of a branch of photography that requires exceptional skill and patience. Lastly, there are accounts of visits to the Three Kings, the Poor Knights, the Hen, the Little Barrier, and the Chathams, which must make a nature-lover wish to follow in Mr. Turbott’s wake. /

A.

M.