LITER A TURK A XD ART. 3 09 



colleges and high schools, will forever remain afflicted with the curse 

 of literary sterility. Meanwhile it is something to have to say, as it 

 fairly may be said, of the Mother of the Australias, that in the day of 

 small things, in every department of literature, she not only well holds 

 her own with the other colonies, but in the highest branches of all — 

 in history, poetiy, fiction — like her own mother country, " in arms, in 

 arts^ in song," stands easily first and alone. 



AH. 



If the pursuit of literature in a young country is attended with 

 many disadvantages, much more so, it might be thought, must be 

 that of art. Yet of the twin sisters in a strange land it can hardly 

 be said that here art has fared the worse. Eather, very nuich the 

 better, one might be inclined to say, since she has at least a local 

 habitation and a name, to say nothiug of other patronage, afforded 

 her by the State, and moreover — including here music and the drama — 

 may appeal more directly to the sympathies of the public. And very 

 well upon the whole, even taking the word ''art" in its strictest sense, 

 has that appeal been responded to. If this paper were a history of, 

 or an essay upon, art, much might be said of its first faint beginnings 

 in this (then) " country of rude dwellers ;" of here and there some 

 solitary artist struggling vainly for existence, or preaching vainly his 

 gospel of art in the midst of an unbelieving generation ; of here and 

 there some cultured connoisseur, or (more probably) collector of 

 pictures for pride or profit's sake, throwing open his private gallery to 

 the public, and consciously or unconsciously helping to cultivate in 

 the community something of an art spirit. But it is not ; its more 

 modest purpose is simply to state briefly the position of art amongst 

 us to-day, and what appear to be its prospects or its possibilities. 



First, then, art has provided for her in Sydney a very convenient 

 temple of her own, in the National Art Gallery in the Domain. If 

 not outwardly a very magnificent shrine, — perhaps in this connection 

 *'mean" would be the better word — it holds richest treasures, and 

 the worshippers are always many. By common consent it is the best of 

 all Australian art galleries, reflecting the utmost credit on the manage- 

 ment, especially the late director, the late Mr. E. M. Montefiore, and 

 the present one, Mr. Du Faur, who have been the most capable and 

 indefatigable workers in its interests from the first. Here are to be 

 fonnd many admirable specimens of the several British and Continental 

 schools of painting, with some fine statuary and other works of art, 

 while a special court is set apart for pictures by Australian artists. 

 These last are selected by the Trustees at the annual exhibitions of the 

 societies, of which, at present, there are two — the Art Society and the 

 Society of Artists — and it may be that in days to come this division of 

 the National Art Gallery will form its most valuable or interesting 

 feature, as showing the various stages in the art-growth of what, it is 

 hoped, may yet be known to fame as the Australian school. 



These field-days or weeks of the societies are, of course, the great art 

 events of the year, and ^\c wish we could say always redounded as much 

 to the profit as they generally do to the credit of the artists. But while 

 the patronage of the State is strictly limited (the Trustees cannot exceed 



