ART SCHOOLS

There are four major art schools in New Zealand, two being university schools and two associated with the technical colleges in Wellington and Dunedin under the control of the Department of Education. Many secondary schools throughout the country provide art courses and in the smaller centres art classes for adults are provided, mainly in the evenings. Art classes for day students in High Schools and Technical Colleges must be fitted in to a curriculum governed by School Certificate and University Entrance requirements, and anything like a complete art course cannot be provided. There is frequently close cooperation with local art societies and clubs, and valuable though unspectacular results are achieved. There are no private art schools of importance and very few private art teachers.

Candidates for the art schools have had, therefore, little preparatory training. The Fine Arts Preliminary examination, a prerequisite for the university schools, is elementary, and cannot be compared with the normal University Entrance requirements. Much of the usual three-year course is thus, of necessity, devoted to bringing students up to the standard which would be required for admission to one of the overseas schools or colleges. The recent appointments of professors of fine art at Auckland and Christchurch could well mean a thorough revision of the present unsatisfactory situation.

Art is a lively subject in our primary schools. Art training is part of the normal course at teachers' colleges and there are opportunities for suitable students to undertake an extension course for specialist art teachers. Robert Donn, a Scot trained in Glasgow who taught at teachers' colleges in Dunedin and Auckland, was one of the first to lift the teaching of art in schools from the doldrums into high favour, and his pioneering work has been developed by a number of gifted artist-teachers, the majority recruited from overseas.

Elam School of Fine Art

The Elam School of Art was founded in 1890 following a bequest by John Edward Elam, a prominent citizen of Auckland, who had been keenly interested in the arts. The first director was E. W. Peyton, 1890–1923, who was succeeded by A. J. C. Fisher, A.R.C.A., 1923–59. Paul Beadle was appointed first professor of fine art in 1961. Until 1949, the school was administered by the Education Department students entering under Government free place or paying fees as applicable. In 1949 the school buildings in Symonds Street were destroyed by fire, and since then the school has been housed in temporary accommodation at the old Newton West School. Great North Road, and in the one remaining building at Symonds Street.

Since 1950, when the school became a special school of the University of Auckland, courses have been available for the Diploma in Fine Arts in either painting, sculpture, or design. Classes are also available for students studying the Preliminary Diploma in Fine Arts and part-time subjects. Hopes for the future include: the establishment of a Bachelor of Fine Arts course; the addition of ceramics to the department of sculpture; and the development of the design department to include industrial design.

New school buildings at the rear of St. Paul's Church, Symonds Street, are now occupied.

University of Canterbury School of Art

Fifty years after the school was opened in 1882, powers were granted to the governing body, that of Canterbury College, to cooperate with the University of New Zealand in conferring a Diploma in the Fine Arts. In 1950 the school was recognised as a special school of the university and became part of Canterbury University College. In 1957, Canterbury University College, with the School of Art as an integral part, became the University of Canterbury.

David Blair was the first headmaster, 1882–86, followed by G. H. Elliott until 1905. R. Herdman-Smith, F.S.A.M., was then appointed director until 1917, and he was succeeded by Frederick G. Gurnsay (acting director) 1917–20, Archibald F. Nicoll, O.B.E., 1920–28, Richard Wallwork, A.R.C.A., 1928–45, and Colin G. Lovell-Smith, DIP.F.A., 1945 till 1960. John Simpson was appointed first professor of fine art in 1961.

In 1957 the School moved from premises at the corner of Rolleston Avenue and Hereford Street to the present beautiful site at Okeover, 108 Ilam Road, Riccarton. Consideration is being given to the introduction of a degree course in fine arts and design, and the inclusion of a wide range of additional subjects such as typography, creative photography, ceramics, interior decoration, theatrical design, and design for film and television.

The School of Art, Dunedin

In 1870 New Zealand's first art school was opened in Dunedin with David Con Hutton, then recently arrived from Scotland, as its first drawing master. The school was established in two large rooms in what is now the Stock Exchange Building and was under the control of the education board. In 1874 the school moved into rooms in the newly completed Normal School building where additional teachers were appointed. Affiliation with the art department of the South Kensington School of Science, London, followed and in 1894 Hutton became principal of the Otago School of Art and Design. He retired in 1908. Robert Hawcridge, who became director the following year, strongly favoured an independent school of art and he resisted a move that the board of managers of the Technical Association should take it over. This extremely versatile artist did much in his 10 years as director to expand the scope and influence of the school. After his death in 1920, for reasons of economy, the school became a branch of King Edward Technical College. A. H. O'Keeffe, widely known and deeply respected throughout New Zealand as a painter, succeeded Robert Hawcridge. His term of office was one of extreme difficulty owing to lack of suitable accommodation and of finance, aggravated by public apathy.

In 1925 both T. H. Jenkin, A.R.C.A., and F. V. Ellis, A.R.C.A., who had been appointed to the staff in 1922, resigned and were replaced by W. A. Allen and R. N. Field, both associates of Royal College. J. D. Charlton Edgar replaced W. H. Allen, who resigned in 1930. In 1937 the school was installed in the present well designed building adjacent to but separate from the Technical College. F. G. Shewell is the present head. Today the emphasis is placed on design in relation to fine craft work, the aim being to combine a painting school with a sound training in industrial design.

School of Design, Wellington

Better known till recently as the School of Art, Wellington Technical College, the title is a reintroduction of the original designation. It dates from 1885 when the Wellington Education Board appointed Arthur Dewhurst Riley, a 25-year-old Englishman who had been teaching art in Sydney, to be the first drawing master of the School of Design. In 1886 three rooms on the top floor of an insurance building at the corner of Brandon and Featherston Streets provided the original school and office accommodation. Contrary to usual procedure, the School of Design was to grow under the remarkably able Riley into the Wellington Technical College. In 1888 the Design School became affiliated with the South Kensington Art School, London. Classes had grown, the syllabus widened, the staff increased, and in 1891 the original inadequate premises were relinquished and a new building in Mercer Street housed what was then called the Wellington Technical School. James McLachlan Nairn, from Glasgow, was appointed and life classes commenced. Nairn was a fine painter whose own work came to be highly regarded. He was the founder of the Wellington Art Club in 1892 (the club is still active) and such was his influence that emphasis shifted from design to painting.

In 1922 the first students attended the present building on the Mount Cook Reserve, but the art block was not completed till 1931. Members of the staff have included A. R. Fraser, Maud Sherwood, J. M. Ellis, Nelson Isaac, Roland Hipkins, F. V. Ellis, and C. T. Laugesen. James B. Coe is the present head.

With the School of Design established as a Polytechnic department and separated from the Technical College (as from 1962) it is hoped to provide advanced training for designers who will be kept in close touch with industry. A three-year course planned on Bauhaus lines, has now been successfully established.

by Stewart Bell Maclennan, A.R.C.A.(LOND.), Director, National Art Gallery, Wellington.