Our People - Our Land

Our People - Our Land

Grahame Sydney Moon & Bull Watercolour, 505 x 745 mm, signed & dated 2014

Illustrated cover: Grahame Sydney Motor Camp, Tauranga Bay, Northland Watercolour, 535 x 740 mm, signed & dated 2014

Our People - Our Land Curated by Richard Wolfe ISBN 978-0-473-29439-7 September 2014

ARTIS Gallery

Jonathan Grant Galleries

280 Parnell Road Auckland New Zealand Telephone +64 9 303 1090

280 Parnell Road Auckland New Zealand Telephone +64 9 308 9125

Email artis@artisgallery.co.nz

Email jg@jgg.co.nz

www.artisgallery.co.nz

www.jonathangrantgalleries.com

Our People - Our Land New Zealand has the distinction of being the last habitable landmass to be settled by humans. The people came, eventually, in two waves; from Eastern Polynesia around 1300 AD, and from Europe some five centuries later. The latter arrivals brought the tradition of easel painting, and the landscape was – and remains – an obvious and popular subject. In a speech at the 1875 exhibition of the Auckland Artists’ Society, Josiah Clifton Firth described New Zealand as ‘the Italy of the Pacific’ in terms of what its climate and scenery could offer artists. He believed it held ‘a foremost place in landscape painting’, while he also encouraged artists to tackle portrait subjects, in particular historical figures and ‘the picturesque Maori’. The challenge was taken up in 1898 by Charles F. Goldie and Louis J. Steele in their massive collaboration, The Arrival of the Maoris in New Zealand (Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki). Goldie subsequently established a reputation for his precisely detailed portraits of Maori, and painted Rakapa Hinetapu, the wife of an Arawa chief and subject of Memories: Rakapa: Arawa Chieftainess (1911), on at least five occasions. Also seen here is another of his regular sitters, first painted in 1902 and entitled Te Aho o te Rangi Wharepu: A Waikato Warrior, Ngati Mahuta Tribe (1939).

The innate character of New Zealand landforms has long been a focus for Michael Smither, and his distinctive and sinuous stylisations may owe something to his boyhood fascination with the French curves used by his father, a graphic designer. The younger Smither grew up in New Plymouth, under the influence of Taranaki /Mt Egmont, and for the last 20 years has been based at Otama Beach, Coromandel. From here he can follow ‘squalls of light and rain’ moving across the peninsula, observing landforms that describe the passing of both time and weather, as captured in Coromandel View I and Coromandel View II. By so doing Smither believes he is discovering his ‘own set’ of French curves.

Justin Boroughs’ Karaka Trees and Rangitoto from One Tree Hill presents a pristine Auckland landscape, and while no people are to be seen, there is evidence of their presence - both Maori and Pakeha. It is the sky rather than the land that dominates in Grahame Sydney’s meticulously executed watercolours, in which time appears arrested. In Nightfall & the Bull a lone and silhouetted bovine contemplates the end of another day, and in Motor Camp, Tauranga Bay, Northland, the viewer’s eye is drawn to a solitary caravan and then offshore to an island bathed in the golden glow of a setting sun.

Terry Stringer Katherine Mansfield Bronze, 2060 x 580 mm

Michael Smither Coromandel View I Oil on board, 230 x 1230 mm, signed & dated 2014

Michael Smither Coromandel View II Oil on board, 230 x 1230 mm, signed & dated 2014

The cultivated landscape is represented here by August, one of Karl Maughan’s large-scale signature slices of lush blooms, energetically painted and inviting more than just visual engagement. Northern Cloud is typical of the urban constructions associated with Sir Peter Siddell (1935-2011), and recognisably Auckland with its kauri villas and volcanic cones but with streets strangely free of traffic and other signs of modern technology. While this vision is very much about the impact of European settlement, the earthworks visible in the background are a reminder that this land was settled long before the appearance of Cook, or even Tasman. In sharp contrast, George Baloghy revels in all that the urban environment has to offer. His Anglesea Street, viewed from the shady side of Ponsonby Road, presents the weatherboarded shopping strip against a backdrop of downtown, Rangitoto and a glimpse of the Waitemata, while striding pedestrians, traffic, road markings and signage are all suitable subjects for inclusion.

Prior to human settlement New Zealand was a land of birds. The wildlife here is dominated by some 245 species, including more flightless species than any other place on earth. This rich avian fauna was magnificently recorded by Sir Walter Buller in his A History of the Birds of New Zealand, published in London in 1873 and using illustrations painted from museum specimens by Dutch artist J.G. Keulemans. One such image was the inspiration for Layla Walter’s cast glass Keulemans’ Tui, which also includes a second bird drawn from an image by New Zealand photographer Geoff Moon. It is the kereru, or wood pigeon, that is the object of interest in John McLean’s richly rendered Springheel Jack Birdwatching. Based on an eccentric character and renowned naturalist from the artist’s boyhood in Tauranga, the shirtless and pinstripe-suited Springheel Jack is seen observing his subjects in the canopy of a puriri tree.

Ray Ching established his international reputation as painter of birds, from New Zealand and Britain, and has recently returned to this country’s fauna and given it an Aesopian twist. His Crab in the Paddock concerns a crustacean who decided to relocate from the seashore to a lush green pasture, where he was conspicuous and spotted by a hungry egret. The moral of the story is: ‘be content with your lot’, for the crab’s inevitable fate was watched by members of this country’s 32-million strong flock of sheep.

Nigel Brown A Kind Woman Oil on canvas, 750 x 550 mm, signed & dated 2014

Nigel Brown Ordinary Bloke Oil on canvas, 1590 x 1180 mm, signed & dated 2013

The earliest European included in this representation of ‘our people’ is the old sea dog in Liam Barr’s No Man’s Land, who has come to grief on a hostile shore somewhere in New Zealand. Based on a poem by E.M. Forster, the subject maintains dignity in the face of adversity and has, pirate-like, a protective kea on his shoulder. Tough types and men of the land were also the preferred subjects of Garth Tapper (1927-1999), recognised in the mid1960s as one of New Zealand’s leading portrait painters. His cast of characters included habitués of public bars - the subject of his sixth oneman exhibition in 1967 - and the gumdiggers of Northland. Three such hardy and impressively-moustached individuals are the likely subjects of his In the Pub, Puhoi.

Another artist who has long been committed to analysing the New Zealand male, in particular his impact on the landscape, is Nigel Brown. His archetypal black-singleted Kiwi bloke first appeared in the 1970s, dealing to the bush and oblivious to conservation issues, but has since moved with the times to become environmentally and socially aware. In the large Ordinary Bloke, from the recent ‘Provocation’ series, the subject is flanked by Brown’s distinctive tree fern, kiwi and dog, and surrounded by concentric ribbons of text drawn from such sources as the artist’s own recall, the national vernacular and the internet. The smaller painting, A Kind Woman, carries the message ‘Some emotion some / bird on the wing / a world for a kind man / a kind woman’, while Brown’s plea for care and consideration is reinforced by his muscle-bound subject nurturing a kereru.

Providing a natural balance to the concept of the man on the land is Terry Stringer’s interpretation of Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923), the most internationally acclaimed of all New Zealand writers. In this bronze portrait sculpture, based on a photograph taken by English aristocrat and influential arts patron Lady Ottoline Morrell, the face is presented as a looming mask, disproportionately large compared to the rest of the body. This emphasises the imagination of the subject, while the sculptor’s characteristic use of elements that change according to the viewer’s angle suggests the shortstory writer’s manipulation of her characters.

Richard Wolfe 31 August 2014

Charles Frederick Goldie (1870 – 1947) Te Aho o te Rangi Wharepu, a Waikato Warrior, Ngati Mahuta Tribe Oil on canvas, 410 x 470 mm, signed upper left and dated 1939

Charles Frederick Goldie (1870 – 1947) Memories: Rakapa, Arawa Chieftainess Oil on canvas, 240 x 190 mm, signed C.F. Goldie & dated 1911

George Baloghy Anglesea Street Oil on canvas, 660 x 1520 mm, signed & dated 2014

Karl Maughan August Acrylic on canvas, 1200 x 1800 mm, signed, inscribed & dated 1994 verso

Layla Walter Keulemans’ Tui Cast glass, 380 x 200 mm, signed

John McLean Springheel Jack Birdwatching Oil on canvas, 1500 x 1200 mm, signed Exhibited: Wallace Art Awards 2013

Sir Peter Siddell (1935 – 2011) Northern Cloud Oil on canvas, 760 x 1520 mm, signed & dated 2002 Illustrated: The Art of Peter Siddell. Siddell P & Dunn M. Publ. 2011 p.237 Exhibited: Touring Exhibition 2003: Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Southland Museum, Christchurch Art Gallery, Hawkes Bay Museum, Te Manawa Palmerston North, Rotorua Art Gallery

Garth Tapper (1927 – 1999) In the Pub Oil on canvas, 1000 x 735 mm, signed & dated 1986

Liam Barr No Man’s Land Oil on linen, 1100 x 900 mm, signed

Justin Boroughs Karaka Trees and Rangitoto from One Tree Hill Oil on board, 570 x 1120 mm, signed

ARTIS Gallery

Jonathan Grant Galleries

www.artisgallery.co.nz

www.jonathangrantgalleries.com

Finished Art Ltd 9.2014

Ray Ching The Crab in the Paddock Oil on composite board, 915 x 1070 mm, signed