BERMUDIANA COLLECTION -- The Masterworks Foundation -- at the Bermuda National Gallery -- Until September 4.

Masterworks' most comprehensive exhibition yet takes place just six years after the Foundation's formation. The intention was to return to Bermuda pictures by artists who came, saw and painted the Island.

That the mission has succeeded on at least one level is immediately apparent through the sheer number of works assembled for this show. Eighty-seven pictures -- ranging from the very early years of the 19th century to today -- take up the lower, mezzanine and upper rooms of the National Gallery.

Most of the pictures have been seen before, but this show gives everyone a wonderful opportunity to see the collection's scope in the Gallery's spacious and uncluttered surroundings for the first time. The effect is impressive.

The paintings have been imaginatively hung, with the vivid colours of Ambrose Webster forming a particularly eye-catching group at the head of the stairs in the main gallery. Even the redoubtable Georgia O'Keeffe's Banyan Tree looks remarkably at home, its heavy wooden frame offset by its positioning above a graceful, Queen Anne Bermuda-cedar table.

Some famous names are on the Masterworks roster, headed by Winslow Homer, who is represented by his Inland Water, painted in 1901. Other artists of repute include Ogden Pleissner, Prosper Senat, Clarke Vorhees, George Ault, Charles Demuth and Ross Turner.

In the lower room are some of the earliest and, certainly from an historical point of view, fascinating depictions of Bermuda. Amongst this miniature treasure trove, there are two small, charming watercolours by one of the Island's first watercolourists, Thomas W. Tucker, and several pencil drawings of the still virtually undeveloped island by unknown British naval personnel.

Thomas Driver, who came to Bermuda in 1814 and left an indelible impression of the Island's topography at that time, is represented by three works. His Cave at Walsingham is remarkable for its colours which are still freshly vibrant today.

Another painting not to be missed is the tiny watercolour by a British artist, C.F. Sims, of the Aladdin-like Cave at Ireland Island. It was captured in 1834, just one week before it was blasted away forever to make way for Dockyard.

The main gallery is devoted to oils, and, amongst the aforementioned, Ambrose Webster's painting, entitled Banana, is a new addition. His refreshingly abstract treatment positively glows with a rich palette of greens, oranges and purples. It comes as a distinct relief to see an abstract work surrounded as it is by a plethora of realism.

Another recent gift is a Prosper Senat's atmospheric study of Pilot Boats off St. George's. It is almost Turneresque, with its golden browns presenting a heady contrast with the pale blue of the sea.

Providing a dash of visual drama on the staircase are a series of posters by Adolph Treidler, advertising the charms of Bermuda for potential tourists between the wars.

The upper floors, devoted to watercolours, have some of Masterworks' most impressive pieces. Quite apart from Mr. Homer, there is the delightful group of St. George's scenes by Canadian Jack Bush.

Ogden Pleissner's watercolour of Windsor Beach reveals his ability to capture tropic lushness within a landscape framework. Also superb is his set of larger St. George's views, including The Mango Tree and the depiction of tall palms brushing across Shinbone Alley.

Until fairly recently, rules of admission into the ranks of this Bermudiana Collection were limited to those whose paint brushes were forever stilled.

Now, apparently, this policy has been modified somewhat. Works by living artists, donated to the Foundation, are now eligible to hang. So in this show are paintings by Alfred Birdsey, Christopher Marson, Sharon Wilson, Elizabeth Mulderig and Otto Trott.

Many will welcome this move, since it is surely essential that any collection worth the name supports working artists. This would appear to be especially true of Masterworks. The artists featured in this show have produced work that is often vastly superior to much of the work previously collected -- in some instances at great expense -- from overseas palettes. Obviously, though, this action may raise more problems than it solves.

Does it mean, for instance, that anyone can donate a piece of work on the assumption that eventually it will grace the walls of the National Gallery? Or, on the other hand, that those (such as Georgia O'Keeffe), who are not of a "giving'' nature where their art is concerned, will be omitted from the inner circle? These sort of considerations perhaps underline the fact that Masterworks, having achieved its magnificent mission of collecting Bermudiana for its people, has now to address the differences between the role of the collector and that of the curator. Some very firm pruning may now be in order.

It seems that Masterworks trustees now have to decide once and for all what direction the Foundation is to take and whether its collection is to reflect historic -- and by extension -- nostalgic interest, or intrinsic artistic merit. PATRICIA CALNAN.