EDITORIAL
With the reopening of the Mackelvie Gallery we are almost back to normal as far as exhibition space is concerned,
and visitors to Auckland will find the pick of the permanent collection on show.
Work will commence soon on the reroofing of the City Gallery, which is the last major operation to be made on the
structure of the building. After its completion the Gallery should be able to resume its full-scale activity. However, despite these long
disruptions, attendances have not been affected materially.
THE PERMANENT COLLECTION During this year great strides have been made in refraining and mounting the
collection. Most of the old frames had been attacked by borer, a most destructive cousin of the European woodworm. We have, therefore,
reframed the greater part of the best pictures in the collection.
Mounting to standard sizes has also gone on with the prints and drawings, so that the collections generally are being
brought into order. One of the principal difficulties which faces a Gallery of this kind is that which comes from 50 or 60 years of direction
by a non-professional staff. Thus the backlog of work of these 50 years is only coped with by the enthusiasm and hard labour of the
present staff, who, at the same time, are more than fully occupied with daily routine,
AUGUSTE RODIN (1840-1917)
LA GRANDE DANSEUSE A
Bronze 28f ins No. 3/12 (illus. front cover) This fine bronze has recently been purchased by
the Mackelvie Trustees. |
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In about 1911, Rodin began work on a series of six figures of dancers. These figures were
based on the dancing group formed by Isadora Duncan, who contributed so much to the art of the dance.
The artist's first meeting with Isadora Duncan is recorded in her Autobiography My Life
1928 (1938 ed.) p. 99-100, and on p. 316 she describes him sketching her pupils (the date being approximately 1913). Danseuse A, our
figure, was the only large figure executed by
Rodin. These studies were never cast by the sculptor, but were cast posthumously by Rodin's founder,
Rudier. It is interesting to note that both this and the Degas mentioned here were executed about the same time, but that the Rodin is romantic in
conception while the Degas is classic. Thus not only does the Gallery possess two excellent bronzes, but both elements of ballet are represented
by works which were created at the very moment of the renaissance of ballet and the dance.
HILAIRE GERMAINE EDGAR DEGAS
(1834-1917)
FEMME METTANT SON BAS
Bronze 18 1/4 ins 29/H (illus. front cover)
Rewald, Degas, Works in Sculpture,
New York No. LVI p. 26 rpr. p. 121
This bronze figure of a dancer putting on her stocking belongs to the series of seventy-four figures
executed in wax by Degas. Seventy-two wax models were cast posthumously by A. A. Hebrard and this particular figure was number 14 in Hebrard's
exhibition of the bronzes, held |
