Our People - Our Land

Illustrated cover:Grahame Sydney

Motor Camp, Tauranga Bay, NorthlandWatercolour, 535 x 740 mm, signed & dated 2014

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

Curated by Richard Wolfe

ISBN 978-0-473-29439-7

September 2014

ARTIS Gallery280 Parnell Road Auckland New Zealand

Telephone +64 9 303 1090

Email artis@artisgallery.co.nz

www.artisgallery.co.nz

Jonathan Grant Galleries280 Parnell Road Auckland New Zealand

Telephone +64 9 308 9125

Email jg@jgg.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.

Our People - Our Land

Terry Stringer Katherine MansfieldBronze, 2060 x 580 mm

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

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

Nigel Brown A Kind WomanOil on canvas, 750 x 550 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 Ordinary BlokeOil on canvas, 1590 x 1180 mm, signed & dated 2013

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

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 mid-

1960s as one of New Zealand’s leading portrait painters. His cast of

characters included habitués of public bars - the subject of his sixth one-

man 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 short-

story writer’s manipulation of her characters.

Richard Wolfe 31 August 2014

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

George BaloghyAnglesea StreetOil on canvas, 660 x 1520 mm, signed & dated 2014

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

John McLeanSpringheel Jack BirdwatchingOil on canvas, 1500 x 1200 mm, signedExhibited: Wallace Art Awards 2013

Layla WalterKeulemans’ TuiCast glass, 380 x 200 mm, signed

Sir Peter Siddell (1935 – 2011)Northern CloudOil on canvas, 760 x 1520 mm, signed & dated 2002

Illustrated: The Art of Peter Siddell. Siddell P & Dunn M. Publ. 2011 p.237Exhibited: 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 PubOil on canvas, 1000 x 735 mm, signed & dated 1986

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

Justin BoroughsKaraka Trees and Rangitoto from One Tree HillOil on board, 570 x 1120 mm, signed

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Ray ChingThe Crab in the PaddockOil on composite board, 915 x 1070 mm, signed

ARTIS Gallerywww.artisgallery.co.nz

Jonathan Grant Gallerieswww.jonathangrantgalleries.com