BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Vancouver Daily Province, not dated (June-July 1942)

In The Realm of Art

B.C. ARTISTS' DISPLAY
TO CALGARY FOR EXHIBITION

by Palette

     Forty-five exhibits selected from a recent successful exhibition at the Art Gallery have been sent to Calgary by the B.C. Society of Fine Arts. These oil paintings, watercolors and drawings by leading artists of the province will form an attractive feature of the Calgary Stampede week, July 6 to 11.
     Bronco busting and a display of the plastic arts are not generally associated. The innovation this year at Calgary reflects increased popular interest in painting in the western provinces. 120 feet of picture space will be accorded in an exhibition building to this selection from one of the strongest recent shows in Canada.
     The B.C. Society of Fine Arts, which is sponsoring this effort, is British Columbia's oldest exhibiting society. This week at its 32nd annual meeting J.W.G. Macdonald was elected president, G.H. Tyler vice-president and Lilias Farley, honorary secretary.
     The new executive committee is composed of M.A. Bain, M. Williams, S.P. Judge, Paul Rand and W.P. Weston, A.R.C.A. Harry Hood and S.P. Judge were elected life members.
     Well-known Vancouver artists recently elected members include Nesta B. Horne, Maud Sherman, R.S. Alexander, B.C. Binning, Max Maynard, J. Delisle Parker, Leon Manuel, and Jack L. Shadbolt. The society now includes most of the prominent painters and sculptors in the province and is the leading exhibiting organization west of Toronto.

Display by Students

     The 12th Annual exhibition by students of the H. Faulkner Smith School of Fine and Applied Art, Marine Bulding, will remain open to the public until the end of July.
     The exhibition manifests the school's ability to train pupils in a practical way for commercial art. Examples of poster work are especially successful.
     Audrey Finlayson in his Victoria poster displays his knowledge of the force of simplicity and of placing a few strong tones in the right manner to bring out the essential aspect of a story. William Massey in his Alps poster reveals his rhythmic sense of forms in movement.
     Harold Broadhead's design for travel folders are colorful and imaginative. An almost professional talent is shown by the students in their lettering and designs for such commonplace objects as labels for various products.

One-man Show Here

     Watercolors and drawings by Dorothy Kennedy in her first one-man show at the Gallery are modernistic in tendency, with emphasis on ample forms, sense of weight and (?) which is personal and expressive.
     Employing somewhat the "color division" method of Signa (?) and Seurat, the artist seeks vibration of color. Miss Kennedy obtains an effective illusion of palpitating light through her dots of clean paint, showing bits of the underground of white paper, and through proper juxtaposition of contrasting tones. To this she adds a certain power of construction and organization.
     Her rendering of the human figure displays poise and dignity, although a certain characteristic habit of showing a diminutive head on a rather unwieldy body will disturb some observers.
     The artist's special force and unusual viewpoint are seen especially in some fine passages of color in the watercolors "Woman in a Chair," "Nude." "Woman Dressing," and "Portrait of a Young Girl."

Travelling Show

     The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, is sponsoring a travelling show for 1942-43 of works by the Canadian Group of Painters. Pictures have been requested from B.C. artists, including W.P Weston, A.R.C.A., Lawren Harris, J.W.G. Macdonald, Charles H. Scott, A.R.C.A., and Emily Carr. The last travelling show went to about a dozen principal cities, including Vancouver, in the Dominion.


Clipping provided courtesy of Vancouver Art Gallery Library

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