A School of Art and Design would obtain a wider scope for its usefulness, and combine with a cultivation of graceful tastes an element of utilitarianism suited to the present position and future growth of the colony.
Again, the proposed lectures or discourses on art might be made of immense benefit, if the topics discussed were not simply confined to a description of 'the line of beauty,' or the peculiarities of a classical profile.
We imagine that the subjects, if selected with a view to the exposition of manufactures, agriculture, and chemistry, and the adaptability they would bear to colonial uses, would afford an attraction to every class in the community, and secure for the Society the popular support.
In making these remarks we wish to be understood as cordially supporting the promoters in their project; but we conceive that a broader basis than that foreshadowed will establish the Society in greater strength and usefulness.
'In addition to works of this class it may fairly be anticipated that many creditable productions will find their way into the exhibition from the easels of colonial amateurs, many of whom are not only industrious, but also deserving of the title of clever artists.
From the names of the Provisional Committee — appointed to make rules and regulations for carrying out the objects of the Society— we feel assured that the project will be fairly started under the most favorable auspices, and with a good prospect of success.
[2]The Society first met early in 1857 and became known to the general public by an exhibition held in March of that year, when membership had reached around 60 and some 300 objects were shown, of which around 200 were paintings, though few would have been works by the exhibitor and made in the Colony.
At the end of that year, many members, including Wadham and his brother Alf Sinclair, Reynolds and Broad, left the Society to form the Adelaide Easel Club.
[18] Oil painter, Mary Millicent Wigg (1904-2001)[19] from the well-known South Australian stationer E.S.Wigg family exhibited The Loft - Paradise on May 2, 1961 and King's Cross on 7 May 1963 held at the Society of Arts Gallery, Institute Building in North Terrace, Adelaide opened by Allan Sierp on May 7, 1963.