Salient. The Newspaper of Victoria University College. Vol. 20, No. 8. September 14, 1956

Creative groups needed

Creative groups needed

Sir David saw the need for the rise of creative groups in many fields in this country. The education system provided an excellent start for the evolution of creative personalities.

In any society which was becoming increasingly mechanised in its way of life, the philosophers and the theologians should find increasing use for their functions as creative groups.

Though they might never provide final answers their activities would meet deep-seated needs.

Moreover, in an increasingly mechanical age the people should rely much upon architects and designers. Sir David hoped for more use of sculpture on noble public buildings and in appropriate settings in parks.

The Dominion's painters were handicapped in the same way as her writers by the limited market and by our present social framework.

Because most of our artists were part timers they chose subjects to which they could easily return: landscapes, portraits, and still life.

"There is little painting of imaginative conceptions arising from the characteristic activities of New Zealanders or from the great ideas of the age, such as Peace, Equality or Energy."

The greatest art had always been so based and Sir David instanced the ideas and work of the great masters of past centuries .

"This may be heretical today," Sir David concluded, "but I do think that, if painters are to be as much of a creative group in a mechanised society as they might be they should be able to express in their pictures something more than their ideas about paint.