Graduation Address

"Epoch-Making Gift to Maritimes" (19 October 1956). (UA Case 69, Box 1)

My Lord Chief Justice, My Lord Chancellor, Mr. President, Mr. Premier, Members of the Senate of the University, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Twenty-five years ago, when I first set foot in Canada for a visit, I was invited by the National Gallery of Canada to write and report upon its work and to make suggestions for its future. That visit impressed me with admiration for this great country and to admiration was added affection and twenty-five years of more intimate knowledge have only served to deepen those feelings. Two years later, again under the auspices of the National Gallery, I traveled across Canada from Montreal to Victoria, visiting Universities, Galleries and private collections, meeting a wide range of people interested in the Arts. I’m sad to say, however, that not once during all these journeys was it suggested that I visit the Maritime Provinces, and when I mentioned the possibility, I was told there were no activities in the Arts nor much call for counsel or encouragement.

Now all that is changed and that is one reason why it is a very special pleasure to be here today. In doing me the great honor of conferring upon me an honorary degree, the University has done more than add one more name to the roll of its graduates. It has recognized and taken within the field, one more subject, that of the Arts, and it was a delight to hear the President suggest that in due course the study of the Arts may find a place in the work of the University.

This need not, perhaps should not, mean that Art history or the training of artists should become a specialized study, but rather that the study of the Arts should be integrated into the work of the appropriate departments so that students should come to know something of the history of man in one of its most important aspects, that of a maker of things, and that also students should be given an opportunity of making some practical acquaintances with creative activity. This is neither the place nor the time to discuss at length the possibilities of the Arts in education and in the life of a community. You will find much on this subject in that remarkable document, the Massey report, produced here in Canada with special reference to Canadian conditions and events. One sentence I might quote as particularly applicable to the present day, “It is the intangibles which give a nation not only its essential character but its vitality as well.”

What may seem unimportant or even irrelevant under the pressure of daily life may well be the thing which endures, which may give the community its power to survive. Of these intangibles the Arts are an important part. With practice, knowledge and enjoyment of the Arts entering into life of a community and playing a part in its daily life they can become an abiding source of inspiration and delight. The Artist works not only with his intellect, but by feeling and intuition; and these carry him beyond the bounds set to conscious realization. The Artist is among the seers, the pioneers, the path breakers of society, illuminating man’s ignorance of himself and all his environment.

Let me give you a very simple example. Today we all accept as commonplace that the shadow cast by an object in sunlight is blue, sometimes intensely so. But it needed the painters, in particular the French impressionists, to make us realize this. Of course this is not a very important matter though it is typical of much else the Artist has revealed to us about the physical world. But the discoveries of the Artist extend also to the things of the spirit. I well remember a great London banker saying to me at the time of the first exhibition of Futurist paintings in London. "These men see farther into the future than any of us in the City of London." Those who have the wit to do so could indeed see on the Arts the expression of the deeper and more obscure movements in mens minds, both for good and evil which are felt and expressed by the Artist before others realized their existence. The Artist however, is more than a prophet or seer, capable of knowledge inaccessible to ordinary mortals. As I have said he is, above all, the maker of things, the creator using the material gathered by his perceptions and intuitions. In his work he is searching not only to unveil but to construct, to make a new work in which order, proportion and harmony reign. Thus the Artist not only opens our eyes, but gives us an ideal. The possibility that out of men’s follies, frustrations and ignorances something finer can emerge; and at the same time by transporting us into the world of imagination to give us delight and happiness.

If, however, my conviction is to be justified that the Arts can thus serve a community there must be works of art for that community to use and to enjoy. So comes about my second reason for the particular pleasure it is in being here today. It gives me the opportunity of joining with you in acclaiming a noble gift of a collection of works of art and of a gallery to house them, which is being made to Fredericton by that great citizen of Canada, and of the Commonwealth, Lord Beaverbrook. This gift makes an epoch in the history of the Maritime Provinces. For the first time there will be here in Eastern Canada a collection of words of Art worthy of the community in which it is to be placed.

The gallery itself will be a notable addition to the buildings of Fredericton. Its site is admirably chosen, one overlooking the river near the legislature, with an appropriate setting of grass and trees. This gallery will be in the heart of the City, easily accessible from every part. The building itself is being designed partly with local materials so that it will not be imposed upon Fredericton, but will suggest that it has grown up in it. Inside, every thought is being given not only to enable the collection to be seen and enjoyed but to provide an atmosphere of intimacy and of welcome. One special feature is that the river will be visible from almost every gallery, and will form the end of a vista at the front entrance, so that this dominating element in the beauty of Fredericton will make its influence felt in, as well as outside, the gallery.

The collection itself is still in the process of growth. One thing is clear, it will not only be on a high level, but will have a marked character of its own. The dominant note is representation of British Art, ranging from the Eighteenth Century to our own times. Perhaps I may be allowed to mention a few outstanding examples. Gainsborough, one of the greatest of English painters is represented by two outstanding examples, a full length portrait of Mr. Nugent, and another of a young woman gathering wood. News, too, has just been received that Lord Beaverbrook has secured a fine example of a full length portrait of Mrs. Billington by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough’s contemporary, and rival. Another aspect of the English genius is represented by Turner and Constable; Turner, a great romantic, who fed his imagination upon the ocean, mountains, rivers and ancient buildings of historic cities about Europe, Constable, nurturing his poetic vision on the English countryside.

Then from our own times come fine examples of Charles Conder, Stanley Spencer, Paul Nash and Matthew Smith, to mention only a few names. I must say also that Canadian painting is represented, notable examples being by Homer Watson and Varley. Perhaps most remarkable of all contemporary work are a number of studies and paintings by Graham Sutherland. These include his masterpiece, a portrait of Lord Beaverbrook himself, and an almost complete group of the studies leading up to his portrait of Sir Winston Churchill. The group to which, I venture to say nothing comparable exists, is a revelation of how an artist works in developing and creating the work of art. It is particularly appropriate that to this group should be joined a landscape by one who Lord Beaverbrook has described as "The promising young painter," Sir Winston Churchill himself.

Here then is to be created in Fredericton a place of study and meditation, and the potential source of inspiration and delight. I use the word "study" advisedly. A work of art does not yield up all it has to give at a casual glance any more than does a piece of music or literature. When looking at the work of art treasure its first impression, the impact upon the innocent eye; you will never quite recapture what you then obtain, but to this first impression must be added a long and more intensive study. The spectator must give himself to the work of art, must experience it fully and so attempt to grasp the feelings and emotions of the artist that made the work what it is. This does not mean abandonment of the critical capacity which every human being should cultivate; but it does mean that before criticism there must come some understanding. Remember also to keep an open mind. What you may not at first understand and may even dislike may come out as it is more fully grasped, to be a source of enjoyment, or equally what is at first sight attractive may be ultimately revealed as superficial and trivial. Remember that the more you bring to a work of art, the more it will give to you.

Knowledge can be acquired, sensibility and insight may be cultivated and those who at one time might look at an object and see nothing, can become very much visually aware and add immensely to their resources in enriching life. So it is that if this great gift is to yield all that it can Fredericton and New Brunswick must play their part. One measure of the value of the gift will be the extent to which it is used, and the way in which it becomes part of the living and continuing cultural heritage of this community. Only when this is achieved can its full potentialities be realized, and it can be turned from a form of relaxation for an idle hour into something that will yield in the words of the English Prayer Book, "The means of grace and a hope of glory."