EDITORIAL
We are pleased to announce that all the renovations to the Gallery's rooms are now complete.
This year we intend to make the entrance more attractive by removing the low walls on either side of the main door and paving
the spaces there. We may also expect in the next few weeks a handwoven curtain which is to hang across the glass partition
between the City and Mackelvie galleries. The curtain is being woven by Mrs Ilse Von Randow, well known throughout the
Dominion for her weaving.
GALLERY ASSOCIATES
Besides their monthly meetings in the Gallery, the Associates invited Dame Sybil Thorndike and Sir
Lewis Casson to give a lunch-time talk during their visit to Auckland with the play The Chalk Garden. Thete was an
excellent audience.
During the Festival the Associates arranged a party in the Gallery which was well attended.
We have to announce with regret that Mr Tom Bolster, who has been the Asociates' Chairman for the last two years, has resigned;
much is owed to his energy. :'
NATIONAL TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX
Cards for this Index have now been sent to all institutions holding collections of drawings and watercolours
dealing with New Zealand from
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the time of the first settlements to 1914. When the completed cards are returned the Index should provide an
invaluable source for information on artists and, in particular, local topography. Historians and geographers will also be greatly
assisted.
PUBLICATIONS
We are grateful to see from time to time that the Gallery acquisitions and activities are reviewed by the
Gazette des Beaux Arts, the doyen of all art journals, and Emporium, one of the leading art periodicals of Italy.
We would also like to remind a number of the galleries who receive our publications that we would like their's in exchange.
THOMAS BEACH (1738-1806) British
PORTRAIT OF A LADY
Oil on canvas 21 x 19 ins
Signed T. Beach Pinx 1782
Sir Arthur Myers Bequest, 1928
Beach, who was born in Dorsetshire, became one of Reynold's pupils in 1760. His training over, he settled in Bath about 1769
where he painted the local gentry, although spending short periods in London. He exhibited regularly and is now considered to
have been the best of all Reynolds' pupils.
This portrait shows Reynolds' influence but at the same time has honesty. Recently cleaned, the quality of the painting is more
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