Price increase for Lester Hall Prints

The last couple of years has seen artist Lester Hall "back catalogue" a large proportion of images previously available as prints.  The effect of this has been that once a retailer such as New Zealand Fine Prints sold out of stock of a print Lester would not replace stock, essentially this print became sold out/deleted and will now only be available on the re-sale market (eg through secondary sales at auction). 

In an announcement taking effect today (Monday 8th April) Lester has raised prices of his current range of prints to $495.

Lester Hall "Queen of the Fern" $495

We will have his prints listed at what is now the old price in our current printed mail order fine art print catalogue for a while yet but pricing has been updated online in the Lester Hall collection at prints.co.nz

Lester is busy working on a new series of prints, the first release is Queen of the Fern, a portrait of a young Queen Elizabeth II wearing a jewel encrusted silver fern brooch. 

Early Artists of the Colony

This article is transcribed from New Zealand’s heritage: the making of a nation. Sydney: Hamlyn House, 1971. v4 pp466-471.  We are pretty sure that our close family friend Anthony Murray-Oliver was the author because of the writing style and the fact that he was regarded as the “expert” on New Zealand colonial era art in the 1960s and 70s.  The writer also makes frequent mention of the Turnbull Library (where Tony worked) and its publications, and the references to Avon Fine Prints and to the book Early Prints of New Zealand written by my parents prior to its publication (it didn’t come out till 1978 and he would have been one of the very few people who would have known about the project back in 1971).

I haven't edited the original text so apologies in advance for some some grating turns of phrase to modern ears (the casual sexism, Maori with an s when there is more than one person etc).  However we are bringing this commentary to light as it's not a bad primer on early NZ artists and as an historical snapshot captures what a small space New Zealand art history was occupying back then.  Us publishing and distributing prints of NZ scenes or by NZ artists appears fifty years later to be as pioneering as the first dealer galleries opening their doors around the same time.   It may even be possible to draw a line line between this nascent interest in local artists and the mainstream adoption of what was then called Kiwiana three decades on...

Visiting draughtsmen, botanists and others who were soldiers, surveyors and politicians were among the men who first portrayed the land and its people.

The first European artist to visit New Zealand, Isaac Gilsemans acted as draughtsman to Tasman on his voyage of discovery. Although he did not set foot ashore, Gilsemans drew the first picture of Maoris, at Murderers Bay (now known as Golden Bay, Nelson) in December 1642. His crude representation in Tasman’s journal was first published in 1692, redrawn by the engraver. The original was not reproduced until a facsimile of the journal appeared in 1898.

NZ Warrior by Sydney Parkinson

One hundred and twenty-seven years passed before Europeans came to this country again. Sydney Parkinson (1745?-71), employed by Banks on Cook’s first voyage, made thousands of sketches, many being fine watercolours. Some hundreds are of New Zealand landscapes, plants, the Maoris and their way of life. Apart from their beauty, these are of immense historical interest. Parkinson was among many of Cook’s men who died on the voyage home, from fever and dysentery contracted at Batavia. The engravings in his journal, published by his brother, vary from those after Parkinson which illustrated Hawkesworth’s official account of the voyage.

Official artist on the second voyage was William Hodges, R.A. (1744-97), who was employed by the Admiralty for two years afterwards, making oil paintings from his sketches. These hang in Admiralty House and the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Of the four New Zealand oils - all of Dusky Sound - one showing a Maori figure was acquired by the Auckland Art Gallery in 1965. There are fine washes and chalk drawings, some of Maoris, in the Mitchell Library, Sydney.

Portrait of Captain Cook by Webber

Oils were also made after the third voyage by John Webber, R.A., (1750?-93). As with Hodges, his sketches made as official artist are of greatest interest. Again, few are of New Zealand. The Suter Gallery, Nelson, owns Webber’s oil of Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound, long incorrectly titled Cook’s Cove; the National Art Gallery has one of his three portraits of Cook; the Hocken Library, Dunedin, holds two watercolours, of Tahiti and Hawaii. For some years Webber was engaged in making aquatints from his drawings - the only local scene being that of Ship Cove - which were published posthumously as Views in the South Seas by James [sic] Webber.

There are other New Zealand pictures, by Herman Diedrich Sporing (ca1730-71), Banks’s Swedish naturalist - and Cook made a few simple pen-and-ink copies of some of Parkinson’s views. In 1773-74 Johann George Adam Forster (1754-94) made noteworthy watercolours of New Zealand birds; his sketchbook of New Zealand plants is in the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. William W. Ellis (d.1785), surgeon’s mate on the second voyage, painted very beautiful watercolours, notably one of the entrance to Dusky Sound, now in the Mitchell Library, Sydney.

Until recent years the work of these artists has been known only at second-hand, through redrawn engravings, but many were reproduced in black and white in J.C. Beaglehole’s edition of Cook’s Journals. A large number were reproduced in colour for the Cook Bicentenary, in The Voyages of Captain Cook by Rex and Thea Rienits and Captain Cook’s Artists in the Pacific by Anthony Murray-Oliver. There are also modern colour prints of some engravings.

French visitors

Astrolabe in French Pass by de Sainson

Apart from Augustus Earle in 1827-28 the only other trained artists to come here before colonisation were those accompanying several French explorers. Two are outstanding: both were with Dumont D’Urville and engravings after their pictures illustrate accounts of his voyages. Louis-Auguste de Sainson (b.1801) was here in 1826-27 and made good views of Kororareka. Louis le Breton (1790-1866), a surgeon, in 1840 also made Maori studies as well as landscapes. Few originals are available but the Hocken Library holds le Breton’s excellent watercolour of Port Otago.

Of early transients Conrad Martens (1801-78) was most fleeting. Distinguished among Australia’s earlier artists, Martens replaced Earle as FitzRoy’s artist on H.M.S Beagle but from South America moved on to Sydney via Tahiti, and Kororareka - for five days, in 1835. Several of his views of the settlement are in Australia but the only one in New Zealand is in the Alexander Turnbull Library.

While much of our more important colonial art was executed in the course of the artists’ employment in other professions, some tuition in art was usual for most educated persons. Many sketched for their own pleasure or for the benefit of relatives and friends in England. New Zealand inherited the tradition of the English watercolour school, well suited to the topographical paintings that record the early landscape. The country has pictures by hundreds of amateurs painting in New Zealand last century. Though they varied in quality, many were highly skilled. Only a very small proportion can be mentioned here.

Most of our early artists are little known and since they seldom signed their work, identification is difficult except to those who have studied their styles. Many pictures are preserved in England and Australia but the Alexander Turnbull Library, the Hocken Library, the Auckland City Art Gallery and other New Zealand institutions hold thousands of paintings and drawings and a small number are available in published form.

Mt Egmont [Taranaki], painting by Charles Heaphy

First and best known of our colonial artists, Charles Heaphy, V.C., arrived in 1839 with Colonel William Wakefield, as artist and draughtsman to the New Zealand Company. In 1840 in the Company’s second ship, the Cuba, came their first Surveyor-General, Captain William Mein Smith (1798-1869). At the expiration of his contract he took up land in the Wairarapa. As an artist Mein Smith is surprisingly unknown, considering the quality of his watercolours and drawings, of which 105 are in the Turnbull collections. Important artistically and historically, they include views in Canada and Gibraltar where he had seen service.

Amateurs such as Joseph Jenner Merrett (1816-54) are invaluable in our early pictorial records. Merrett, arriving in Auckland in 1840, was employed as a surveyor and Maori interpreter; as an artist he later enjoyed the patronage of Sir George Grey. In style he was almost a primitive The features of his Maoris are quite European, yet his figures have a unique “Maoriness” captured by few others. There are two lithographs after Merrett, one including Hone Heke and another of a Maori feast at Remuera, 1844, of which a modern reproduction has been published. Several of his watercolours are in the Turnbull Library and others may be seen in the Gallery and Public Library in Auckland and in the Hocken Library.

Lithograph of John Gilfillan's "Interior of a Native Village"

John Alexander Gilfillan (1793-1863) was an established artist in Scotland before emigrating to Wellington in 1841, taking up farming near Wanganui the next year. After the death of his wife and four children at the hands of Maoris in 1847, Gilfillan left for Australia. His rare lithograph of Putiki Pa, recently republished, is well known but his skill can be discovered only in his sketchbooks in the Hocken collection, together with a superb oil of a Maori meeting; and the Turnbull’s watercolour of Kapiti and the 1842 sketch of Te Rauparaha purchased by the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust in 1970.

Swainson the Naturalist

Not to be confused with his namesake who came to New Zealand as Attorney-General in 1841, in the same year William Swainson, F.R.S., F.L.S. (1789-1855) came to the Hutt. A distinguished naturalist whose Birds of Brazil is a classic, Swainson took up farming despite Maori harassment. In the 1850s he was engaged by State Governments in Australia as a botanist, but then returned to the Hutt. He made many hundreds of brilliant pencil drawings, mostly in Wellington province. The largest collection, of 200 - including beautiful wash drawings of Sicily - is in the Turnbull Library, with several hundred natural history drawings as well. Other collections are in the Auckland Institute and Museum library, the National Art Gallery, the Dominion Museum, the Hocken Library and the possession of the artist’s descendants.

Early Wellington view (Hawkestone St) by Brees

An important arrival in 1842 was Samuel Charles Brees (1810-65), successor to Mein Smith. He carried out useful surveys for the Company, including the route to the Wairarapa across the Rimutakas. Ironically, he is noted for the black and white engravings made by Melville from his watercolours for the artist’s Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand (1847) published in London in several editions. There are modern colour reproductions of four plates and in 1968 Avon Fine Prints Ltd published a facsimile edition from the Turnbull’s rare hand-coloured copy. This library holds 32 Brees watercolours, a few are in private hands and the Hocken has a major watercolour of an 1843 Maori meeting in the Wairarapa.

Several cadet surveyors accompanied Brees, one being Edmund Norman (1820-75), who later lived in Canterbury for 20 years A few of his finely detailed pen-and-pencil sketches are found in the Turnbull and Hocken collections, and excellent lithographs of Wellington, the Canterbury Plains and Lyttelton - the latter two being reissued in 1970.

A great French etcher, Charles Meryon (1821-68), served in the corvette Le Rhin at Akaroa, 1843-46. In 1848 Meryon exhibited at the Paris Salon a huge drawing reconstructing the death of Marion du Fresne at the Bay of Islands in 1772. Despite inaccuracies of presentation, it is a major work. Part of the Rex Nan Kivell Collection in the National Library of Australia, the picture was presented to New Zealand in 1967 on the visit of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt and placed in the Turnbull Library. Meryon published a volume of Pacific etchings in 1868, four showing Akaroa in 1845.

Since Cook’s Voyages appeared, most New Zealand engravings in England and Europe derived from plates in that publication, until the advent of missionaries in 1814 and colonisation in 1840 stimulated interest in this country. Far more illustrations of New Zealand appeared than is generally realised. An invaluable forthcoming publication from Avon Fine Prints Ltd.,  Early Prints of New Zealand, by E.M. and D.G. Ellis, provides an annotated checklist of all those issued between 1642 and 1875. Many early pictures were re-engraved again and again, often becoming quite misleading. Original artists were rarely acknowledged.

The Illustrated London News commenced in 1842 and for over 20 years published numerous New Zealand scenes. Some early views have often been used in modern books. The best collection, in black and white, is the outstanding pictorial history, Making New Zealand, published by the Department of Internal Affairs for the 1940 Centennial and matched only by New Zealand’s Heritage. Increasing interest in our early art has been encouraged by the annual colour print series published by the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust Board since 1963. The Hocken Library and commercial firms have since entered the field.

Edward Jerningham Wakefield accompanied his uncle in the Tory and in 1845 his Adventure in New Zealand, published in London, was accompanied by a separate folio of 20 black-and-white plates - again there is a hand-coloured Turnbull copy. The Illustrations were after such artists as Heaphy, Mein Smith, Brees and Fox, employed by the Company. A.H. and A.W. Reed issued a facsimile in 1968.

The New Zealand Company supplied some of our best artists, among them Sir William Fox,

Canterbury Plains from the Port Hills by William Fox

K.C.M.G. (1812-93), until latterly known chiefly as a politician. Several times Premier for brief periods, he was knighted in 1879. As an artist he is now considered, at his rare best, to rival Heaphy.

Fox arrived at Wellington in 1842. For some years he worked for the Company before entering politics, carrying out explorations in the Wairarapa (1843); and the Nelson back country (1846-47) with Heaphy and Brunner, where he did some of his most brilliant watercolours. Although lacking the easy technical skill of Heaphy, Fox could respond superbly to the New Zealand scene, capturing it without any intrusive anglicisation - a fault in so many of his successors.

The hundred watercolours Dr T.M. Hocken received from the artist include some of Fox’s best work - notably views of Auckland and Wanganui in the 1850s - as do the 20 purchased by Mr Alexander Turnbull in 1915. The latter, with Heaphy’s and Mein Smith’s, came from the New Zealand Company’s archives. Nine paintings by Fox have been reproduced as colour prints by the Turnbull Library, four being selected from the 250 in the Wilkie Loan Collection.

Angas portrays Maori life

A lesser but more widely known artist than Fox - or Earle, though like him he spent only six months here - George French Angas, F.L.S., F.Z.S. (1822-86), came from South Australia in 1844. Most of his visit was spent in the Taupo and Wellington areas. A facile and competent artist, Angas specialised in native studies and his records of the Maori are important though the features are too European. Most of his watercolours are in the South Australian Museum but the Turnbull purchased two in 1969 - one a portrait of Tamati Waka Nene - and already held an album of preliminary sketches for New Zealand watercolours.

Angas is famous for his large volumes of colour plates, The New Zealanders Illustrated (1846-47), South Australia Illustrated (1847) - both reproduced by Reed in 1966 and 1967 - The Kaffirs Illustrated (1849) and Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand (1847), illustrated in black and white. His New Zealand watercolours have also been reproduced by Reed.

Typical of many young men of good family who came to New Zealand to attain considerable success is Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld, G.C.M.G. (1823-91). Arriving in 1844 he left in 1867, being Premier 1864-65. He was knighted in 1880, having held several colonial governorships elsewhere in the Empire. Virtually undiscovered as an artist, Weld was a most accomplished watercolourist. A few of his paintings are in the Canterbury Museum.

Throughout the British Empire soldiers and surveyors were prominent as early artists. New Zealand was unusual in that here surveyors preceded the soldiers. The first Maori-European wars broke out in 1845 and several soldier-artists made useful records of he campaign and its milieu. Officers received some sketching tuition as part of military training and many were proficient in watercolours. Two of particular interest are Colonel Cyprian Bridge (1808-ca.83) and Lance-Sergeant John Williams, both of the 58th Regiment. Bridge, then a major, kept a most unusually candid journal of the Northland campaign against Hone Heke: a transcript is in the Turnbull Library, with some 50 pictures by the two artists, some being alternative versions. Supplying excellent illustrations of the war, some were used in James Cowan’s The New Zealand Wars and two have been published as Turnbull prints. Williams was the better colourist but most of his watercolours, including four in the Hocken, are copies of Bridge’s.

Another soldier-artist of merit was Lieutenant-General George Hyde Page (1823-1908) who, as lieutenant in the 58th, also came here with reinforcements in 1845. The Turnbull has five of his paintings, one in oils. Lieutenant-General Charles Emilius Gold (1803-71) was colonel of the 65th Regiment, stationed in Wellington from 1846 to 1858. The Turnbull’s Gold collection, recently augmented by purchases in London, contains 37 watercolours, some of much historical interest. Gold was an amateur artist but his work has marked appeal.

Although some of Cook’s New Zealand charts remained in use for two centuries, more detailed charting of our coasts was an early necessity. Admiral Richard Aldworth Oliver, R.N. (1811-89) as captain was in command of H.M.S. Fly surveying New Zealand and Pacific waters. He was a sensitive, accomplished amateur who painted many landscapes and Maori studies. A large collection, held by his grandson in England, was exhibited here between 1948 and 1952. In 1852 eight coloured lithographs by Oliver were published in London as Sketches in New Zealand,  now a collector’s item. Three watercolours are in the Turnbull collections, with photographs of those in England and photocopies of Oliver’s New Zealand journals.

One of PJ Hogan's paintings of Auckland (1852)

The year 1849 saw three important arrivals. Patrick Joseph Hogan (1805-78) came to New Zealand as a soldier but took up art and surveying until leaving for Sydney nine years later. Frequently used as illustrations are four very fine lithographs of Auckland in 1852 after Hogan. A hand-coloured set in Government House, Auckland, was recently reproduced, as was a fifth lithograph, the original watercolour of the latter being in the Auckland Institute and Museum Library. John Buchanan (1819-98) reached Dunedin in 1849 and was first a surveyor, laying out Dunedin, then botanist and draughtsman to the geological survey service. His book on New Zealand grasses was published in 1880. In the Hocken Library are eight watercolours, that of Milford Sound being unexcelled among New Zealand paintings. There are 36 Buchanan pencil sketches and wash drawings in the Turnbull collections.

The Work of Barraud

In 1849 Charles Decimus Barraud (1822-97) arrived at Wellington. Although he came from a family of artists he set up as a chemist, but for the rest of his life painted watercolours prolifically throughout the country. In this century he has tended to be discounted as another Victorian colleague of John

Print of CD Barraud's "Port Chalmers" painting

Gully, but his reputation is rising again as he becomes better appraised from the 250 Turnbull watercolours, most of which were made in the field. Five have been issued as Turnbull prints. Barraud was inclined to overfinish work intended for exhibition. He achieved great success with his volume of chromolithographs, New Zealand: Graphic and Descriptive, published in 1877; a few of the plates have been reissued lately.

Barraud was the first president of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, which he was instrumental in founding in 1889. He was among the first wave of New Zealand artists, those who were consciously (even self-consciously) artists, whose work began to attract public attention. This marked the change in social attitudes which enabled the next generation to accept the possibility of art being a profession in New Zealand.

Artist Submissions

Please note this article is regarding artists submitting reproduction prints of their paintings to NZ Fine Prints, not multiple originals (editions) which are not copies of another artwork. We generally accept submissions of original prints by New Zealand artists as a matter of course. Stocking every NZ print available had been our raison d'être since 1966. 

One of the best and worst parts of my job is dealing with artist submissions.  The thrill of new work that is exactly the kind of prints that our customers are looking for, or prints that we believe should be available to buy even if they may not have the greatest level of sales tempered by the need to gently turn down artists whose work may not work for us.  This is really hard to do but unless we started charging to list prints for sale we have to be sure that a print is economically viable for us to catalogue and promote a new title for sale.

I have written before about how "you should make prints of your paintings" from a studio visitor turning down the opportunity to buy one of your paintings does not validate the notion that there is a market for your work, your visitor may just be being polite!

Type of print (printing method) is an important consideration

Before I touch on the content or theme of your artworks there is the issue of what sort of prints you are planning to publish.

The advent of digital (or giclee) printing means that a small print run is commercially viable, however the high unit cost means the retail price has to be relatively high for what is still a reproduction of another artwork rather than an original print.  This means artists envision selling their prints as "limited edition", signing and numbering each print partly to justify the high purchase price.  However this limits the appeal of the print unless it is very high quality, in a small edition size and in general a big print. We've discussed the different kinds of limited editions and our views on this in an earlier post here

Frederick St Cafe by Wellington
artist Sarah Molloy

Giclee does not have to mean a price over $NZ100.  Many commercial art print publishers print nearly all of their open edition reproductions this way, reserving offset printing only for the top selling images from the most popular artists.  These are the prints we sell for $NZ49.95 - $NZ79.95, up to 600 x 800mm image sizes, they use lightfast inks and acid free paper.   They can do this because they are paying the artists (or galleries, artist estates, museums etc) a royalty on each print rather than the artist taking the full wholesale price.  A royalty payment is a bit less than an artist will receive if they are taking the risk on themselves by self-publishing (printing and distributing their own prints to retailers like New Zealand Fine Prints directly).  However with the cost of digital printers continuing to fall we have recently listed for sale the prints of artist Sarah Molloy, her Wellington scenes are printed digitally and she receives the full wholesale price for her work rather than a royalty but her prints can still retail at a very saleable $59.95 price point.

Subjects & Themes

Tiki Tour Takeaways by Greg Straight

Subject wise we are looking for recognisably New Zealand content.  Prints of places people care about, observations of kiwi life that resonate with us, that reinforce the multifaceted but interlocking identities of modern NZ society.  Kiwiana is morphing into something beyond just a celebration of the icons of Pakeha consumerism to a broader categorisation of unpretentious, accessible decoration with a kiwi flavour.  For instance this new print from Greg Straight, it's a slice of contemporary kiwi life more than a nostalgic view of a less culturally inclusive past.

Obviously well-known artists are good bets as well, we still believe in our role in making good quality prints available at reasonable prices of New Zealander's favourite paintings, prints for people who like the art or artist but are not considering purchasing the original artwork for it may be locked away in a gallery or requiring an investment level of money to acquire it.

Alan Taylor 1933-2016, artist and writer. An obituary by Alister Taylor.

This post is by publisher and writer Alister Taylor (no relation to Alan). We were honoured to be sent this obituary by Alister for publication - Alister Taylor has always been one of our publishing heroes,  a pioneer in treading the entrepreneurial tightrope between art and commerce who created a body of work that's shaped NZ's cultural landscape of today.

Alan Taylor, one of New Zealand’s significant but virtually unknown artists and writers, has died. He was 83. He died in obscurity, destitute, ravaged by emphysema from a lifetime of heavy chain-smoking, still recovering from an earlier stroke. Even the art dealers and auctioneers who sold his work didn’t know of his death until I told them today. Nor did his friends. When I told Sophie Coupland, Director of Art at the resurgent Mossgreen-Webb’s in Auckland today, she said “Poor old soul.”

Born in the UK, Taylor served in the Korean War (1950-1953) as a young British soldier in the combined Commonwealth forces (British, Canadian, Indian, Australian and New Zealand), along with South Korean and American forces, against the North Korean and Chinese armies. He was taken prisoner and served several years in North Korean and Chinese POW camps, where he endured prolonged sessions of attempted brainwashing, a near starvation diet, disease and negligible medical assistance. More than 40% of Commonwealth and US POWs died in captivity. In 1953 the US Department of Defence claimed that more than 900 US prisoners remained in captivity after the North and the Chinese said all prisoners had been released. The South Koreans claimed there were 55,000 to 65,000 of their troops still being held by the North Koreans. Indeed in 1994, 41 years after the war ended, a South Korean soldier escaped from captivity in North Korea and over the next 20 years a further 78 former South Korean POWs escaped from North Korea. South Korea still claims the North has 565 prisoners from that long-ago war.

Scarred horribly from his POW experiences, Taylor was stunned by the negative reaction he and his fellow POWs were met with on their repatriation to Britain after their release. British army authorities suspected them of being converts to communism – the result of the “brainwashing” -- and they were shunned by the military and many of their former friends. Taylor took his first opportunity to escape and arrived at Auckland Airport at Mangere where he got as far as the local marae and fell in love with one of the Maori maidens there.

I first became familiar with Alan’s quirky naïve work when he began to send me cartoons for several magazines I had published: “Affairs” magazine for schools in 1969, the NZ edition of “Rolling Stone” in 1972, “The NZ Whole Earth Catalogue” in 1972, 1975 and 1977 and “The New Zealander” from 1981. Alan also sent his cartoons and drawings to others involved in the publishing process, including editors of student newspapers among whom was the barrister Hugh Rennie CBE, QC when he was editor of “Salient” and later at the “National Business Review”.

Alan lived on his minute army pension and became immersed in Maori art and travelled around New Zealand, visiting marae, meeting Maori informants who could teach him Maori history and art and photographing meeting houses. He was particularly interested in kowhaiwhai rafter patterns and many of the primitive colonial and post colonial period carvings. He was probably the first European to appreciate them and the first to describe them as “Maori folk art”.

Alan wrote frequently and was widely published, often in obscure publications but also by prestigious university presses in Hawaii and North America. His pioneering book “Maori Folk Art” is now a rarity and much sought after; it was first published in Hawaii and internationally and then in a much expanded edition in New Zealand by a long-gone English imprint Century Hutchinson in 1988. His 1966 book “The Maori Builds: Life, Art and Architecture from Moahunter Days” was published locally by Whitcombe and Tombs. His smaller publications, “The Maori Warrior”, “Maori Warfare”, “Maori Tattooing”, “Maori Clothing” and “Maori Weaving” were all published by Brigham Young University in USA but deserve a local collection of their own.

Alan was an avid protester and was always creating cartoons and images of protest: on the threat of nuclear war, against apartheid, against the Vietnam war, against All Black tours to South Africa and on the perils of allowing South African immigrants and the racial ideals they would bring with them to New Zealand. He gave me a set of unique water-colours – small works devoted to notable New Zealand artists, but they are so obscene I hesitate to hang any of them except in the lavatory; toilet humour.

He was always trading his current bits and pieces for survival and even when paid handsomely for his paintings or his acquisitions the money disappeared within a day or two. I remember him selling an ancient and beautiful ceremonial greenstone adze for several tens of thousands of dollars, but the next week he seemed as broke as ever.

His paintings were pointillist, primitive and powerful; they vibrated with colour. Many of them related to historic Maori incidents which he had researched intimately, others were of his favourite fish, the pukeko, hills, native bush, historic locations or legendary and Maori characters such as Captain Cook, Hongi Hika and Hone Heke. He gave my friend a beautiful painting of a teddy bear for his son Silas on his birth. Alan had a tender heart.

Alan was also a gentle character and a very generous man. Once I received a gift from him – a metal tin in the post in which lay a large greenstone tiki of the great Bay of Plenty chief Hori Pokai, who was painted by Goldie. Attached to it was Pokai’s gold watch-chain and a silver shield engraved with his name. Alan knew of my connection to Goldie and the books I’d written about him and thought I would appreciate the tiki.

For a time, almost every week, a cartoon or Alan Taylor drawing would flutter through the post. Whenever he knew I’d moved house or location he would send me a painting related to the new place I lived – Kororareka/Russell, the British destruction of Pomare’s pa opposite Opua while Pomare himself was a guest on board a British naval ship, Mount Hobson, Auckland -- all inscribed on the back with a suitable quotation and history of the place or of related identities such as Hongi Hika, Kawiti, Pomare I and Governor Hobson.

When Alan went to hospital in his final illness his son Fetulaki and his mates cleaned out Alan’s rooms up the stairs in Dominion Road in an area he had lived for decades. There is nothing left there to remember him.

For much of his life Alan’s paintings sold for less than a thousand dollars, rarely above $1500. Now that he’s gone, these exquisite and colourful records of our past will undoubtedly soar in value as the naïve gems left by colourful characters such as Alan Taylor so often do.

Alister Taylor

Slow Death of Kiwiana?

In this article we talk to NZ designer Shann Whitaker of Tantrum Design who has recently declared he thinks the popularity of Kiwiana is just another trend, and a perhaps a fad that is on the verge of dying.  

Whitaker argues that Kiwiana has not just been a relabelling of what is unique to or easily identified as being from New Zealand as "Kiwiana" but a trend that has perhaps done its day. It's an interesting contribution to the debate around whether kiwiana is just another trend that has now possibly been done to death or have we just taken to calling cultural products from NZ that were always there and will always be for sale (tikis for example) with the previously kitschy term Kiwiana?

NZ Designer Shann Whitaker

Kiwiana "Bloated and Swollen", needs "A Cleanout"

Whitaker says "Like every good idea and trend, the good times must come to an end."  Although Kiwiana hasn't yet actually died "It has just become rather bloated and swollen, to a point that every shop, chemist, two dollar store or fair stall has something Kiwiana in it."

Whitaker says that the most important factor in the decline of Kiwiana is time, "it has probably been a good decade since the scene really took off". He adds "Sure, you can still find great creative NZ themed gifts but lets face it, New Zealand has a limited amount of iconic imagery, flora and fauna. There are only so many different ways you can dress up a Fantail before you start going a little crazy. I used to joke that we needed to find some kind of new bird or mammal just so we had something new to design. These same icons have been designed to death now and the regurgitating of the same material is becoming stale."

According to Whitaker Kiwiana needs a "clean out".   He says the "sheer number of creatives trying to design in a small market has become over populated. Copycats, the faux designers ripping off new ideas and selling them at low low prices to cheap stores do not help the market."

Kiwi design is more important than kiwi made to Whitaker

Although he is talking about giftware and design store products more than kiwiana art specifically Whitaker makes an interesting distinction between kiwi made and kiwi designed but manufactured overseas and calls for the buying public to "embrace creatives for their ideas not just their manufacturing abilities."

"I was 100% NZ Made for six years", he says, "but as my ideas changed and I got more adventurous with my products I realised that I was restricted by price. I feel that as New Zealanders our strengths are in our ideas and creativeness. We cannot compete with the low wages and long hours that make China and India  powerhouses of the manufacturing world."

In NZ Fine Prints part of the broader market for cultural products from New Zealand we still believe that the rebranding of the work of NZ artists as kiwiana art is mostly a blurring of the definition of "fine art" from New Zealand and popular or commercial art in the public's perception.  However Shann's assertion that the days of derivative - or less charitably copycat - "kiwiana" style designs being sold everywhere on everything is coming to an end (even if the name still sticks to art that has nothing in common with buzzy bees and four square man beyond being created in the same country) does seem to be common sense too.  What we would be concerned about would be if Kiwiana was both a trend and a blurring of definitions that had the result of quality work by NZ's best artists being dismissed in the near future as merely Kiwiana that is no longer fashionable due to the factors Shann has identified.

Is kiwiana just a trend? If so is "Kiwiana" a trend that is dying? Please leave a comment below.

Inspiring, Entertaining & Practical Guide to the NZ Art Market

Behind the Canvas: An insider's guide to the New
Zealand art market by Warwick Henderson

Review of Behind the Canvas: An insider's guide to the New Zealand art market.  By Warwick Henderson with a foreword by Hamish Keith.  Published by New Holland Publishers.  In bookstores now or purchase directly from Warwick Henderson Gallery here.

Our verdict: Indispensable. 

Format

"Behind the Canvas" is structured in 10 chapters, starting with "A Brief History of the Art Market", taking you through "Building a New Zealand Art Collection" to "Selling Artwork" with diversions into the illuminating "Information and Advice for Artists" and "Fakes, Forgeries and Flops" along the way.  A helpful "Recommended Reading and References" section rounds off the main part of the book. This is followed by in depth endnotes, exhaustive picture credits and a useful and thorough index (the book is well edited and nicely designed by Kate Stone and Kate Barraclough at New Holland).

Engaging & Informative

The soul of this publication is Henderson's ability to convey his enthusiasm for the the NZ art market in a delightful breezy style whilst filling the reader with knowledge.  Readable, often funny and comprehensively informative Henderson de-mystifies collecting art in the affable manner of a kiwi Bill Bryson taking a complex topic and making it highly digestible.

There is an entertaining openness and disarming honesty about "Behind the Canvas",  Henderson's mistakes are wryly dissected and not every purchase ends in triumph although lessons may be learned. The intersection between art and business is the central theme of the book, the role of the dealer balancing the needs of each side of the transaction is clearly explained. The interests and requirements of both collectors and artists are taken into consideration across the chapters, and aspiring (and perhaps competitive) dealers will learn a lot too!

A key influence on Henderson's approach to art dealing seems to have been one of the author's "first forays into a Wellington dealer gallery" where the dealer was "extremely personable and friendly - a typical Kiwi bloke and not the stereotypical snobby dealer". This book is in the tradition of making art accessible without dumbing it down that outlets like Peter McLeavey's gallery epitomised to the first generation of buyers of contemporary NZ art.

Prints

This writer expected the usual dismissive treatment of artists' prints but was pleasantly surprised when original prints were covered respectfully and some were even illustrated in the book.  Early NZ prints were even mentioned as a possible starting point for a collection.

Online Sales

Likewise when the heading "E-Commerce Sites and Other Art Junk" leapt off the page to this reviewer (disclosure: I am the marketing manager at one of NZ's busiest art selling websites) what follows is a carefully nuanced review of the pitfalls of online sales of art from the vantage point of over 30 years in the industry that does not throw the ecommerce baby out with the bathwater.  What was particularly interesting was the even handedness of the critique, Henderson is equally concerned about the sellers of artwork on sites like TradeMe being hoodwinked by savvy buyers as he is by buyers unwittingly buying mass produced paintings being passed off as original artworks.

Conclusion

The only disappointment is that with such a comprehensive book - Henderson wryly notes the "scope of the book grew much wider than I (or the publishers) had originally envisaged" - there may not be enough material for another book by this writer on this topic in the near future.

Creative New Zealand's visual arts budget would buy 100,000 copies of this book. This writer couldn't think of single better way of supporting the continued long term growth of the NZ art market than delivering this engaging, inspiring and practical book into 100,000 households tomorrow.

Sketches by Peter Arnold - original artworks or prints?

For many years New Zealand Fine Prints along with many other galleries and picture framers stocked prints of pencil sketches by NZ artist Peter Arnold.  Arnold's drawings of popular places and buildings around NZ were originally published as prints in the 1980s. The different titles have gradually sold out over the past few years and are now completely out of print (sold out).

"One Tree Hill, Auckland"
Print of a sketch by NZ artist Peter Arnold

However as a consequence of advertising Peter Arnold prints for sale at prints.co.nz until we sold out of the very last one just a few weeks ago we received a fairly steady stream of enquiries about whether a sketch by Peter Arnold was an original artwork or not - and also enquiries as to the value of what looks at first glance like an original pencil sketch by this artist.  So if you are looking for information about this artist's work - perhaps having inherited a framed print/sketch - the perhaps unwelcome news is that you are almost certainly the owner of a reproduction print rather than an original artwork.

Confusingly these prints were sold both as black and white images and hand coloured (by the publisher, not the artist). Either coloured or uncoloured they are reproduction prints, not original (i.e. handmade - for example an etching) prints or sketches.  Their value is decorative rather than investment, nicely framed they are worth around $NZ50 each.

An example of the artists' style is the print of Auckland's One Tree Hill illustrated here - there were at least a couple of dozen scenes published in this technique and of similar appearance.

If you are still convinced that you may have an original sketch rather than a reproduction we'd recommend getting an expert in paintings and drawings to take a look at the artwork in real life, try contacting an auctioneer of fine art near you or your local city council run art gallery.

Printing & selling canvas prints - advice for NZ artists from Christchurch painter Linelle Stacey

The trend for artists to reproduce their work as canvas prints either instead of or alongside traditional paper prints has (along with the migration from offset to digital printing) been one of the major changes in the reproduction prints part of our industry over the past ten years.

Artists contact us regularly to ask how they go about making and selling prints of their paintings on canvas so NZ Art Print News spoke to one of the most successful sellers of reproductions on canvas in New Zealand to find out how she does it.

Christchurch artist Linelle Stacey who publishes
a top selling range of reproduction canvas prints
of her paintings

We asked Christchurch painter Linelle Stacey what made her decide to publish and sell prints in the first place. She told us that she had "painted a little through my teens and even exhibited my work in my early twenties but then marriage and a family took precedence and I put my art aside until my family was grown.  Five years ago I gave up a full time job to be an artist and soon found it was difficult to provide an income from painting alone. Having prints as well as paintings for my customers to purchase has allowed me to continue to paint full-time and gives my customers a lower priced options for buying my artworks."

Stacey did not choose to publish prints on paper because she painted on stretched canvases and by printing on canvas the artworks would be "as much like the originals as was possible".

To achieve the level of sales that Linelle has she didn't simply reproduce prints of her favourite paintings to see how they would go. Her first step was to research the market, both to see how prints were being made and find out what subjects and scenes were popular. She told us "I went to as many galleries and print retailers as I could find to see what prints were currently available and asked questions about the printing processes that were involved. I used the internet and also rang printers and again asked a lot of questions."

A lot of artists get stuck trying to find the right printer (we wrote about the options available in NZ digital printing market from a more technical point of view last year here) so we asked Linelle how once she had decided which images to print how did she choose the printer to print her canvases for her? She told us that "I spoke with a large number of printers, telling them what I was looking for and eventually found around half a dozen that I felt could possibly provide the kind of prints I was looking for".

Her next step was to compare canvas printers.  "I invested a little money at this point in getting samples from these print companies so I could physically see what their prints looked like. I was then able to compare quality, the materials they used, prices and delivery timeframes." Linelle ranked the results of her sample printing with quality being her number one priority, but always balanced against price. "In the end", says Linelle,  "I think it came down to a desire to work with me to provide the kind of print I wanted at a price that was acceptable. There are a lot of companies who simply say – this is what we do and this is the price. They didn’t particularly care or even listen to what I was trying to achieve."

In the end the printer Linelle chose is based in New Zealand.  She said "I ordered some samples from overseas printers. This was a very expensive time consuming process and the quality was rubbish compared to the NZ companies I’d trialled."

"Routeburn Stones" Linelle Stacey's latest canvas print
1000 x 400mm $NZ 199.95

We asked Linelle how she went about selling the prints once they had arrived, and what are her most popular subjects. She told us "I sell through the internet, through retail outlets (and of course you can buy all of Linelle's canvas prints from NZ Fine Prints' canvas prints collection) and my studio. My most popular subjects are the same with my prints as with my paintings, beaches (especially towards the end of summer), winter mountainous landscapes, monochromatic images and landscapes with dramatic lighting such as the Lindis Pass."

Finally what are Linelle's hot tips for NZ artists considering printing and selling reproduction prints on canvas?

1. Great images of your artwork are key.  Linelle has a very talented photographer who produces the most amazing digital copies of her work. Have a look at our article by Auckland photographer Bret Lucas on "How to photograph a painting" if you would like to learn more on this vital first step.

2. Don’t be put off by information from any one company. There are many different printing services out there and with perseverance you will find the right one for you.

Thank you Linelle for sharing your experience with publishing canvas prints with NZ Art Print News.

1938 review - Rita Angus portraits "harsh and unpleasant", Cass "too plain altogether"

In a delightful twist to a well worn narrative from NZ's art history NZ Art Print News discovers that the first critic to review Rita Angus's "Cass" heartily disliked the artwork that would become "New Zealand's favourite painting".

 "most unpleasant spot", the painting is "too plain altogether"

The usual version of the Rita Angus story is that Angus's famous New Zealand painting Cass appears "exhibited in the National Centennial Exhibition of New Zealand Art [in 1940], signalling critical recognition for her work."*

However listed under her married name "Rita Cook" the exhibition two years earlier of "Cass" and "Mountains Cass" at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts annual exhibition was in fact recognised with a scornful critical review published on page 6 of Wellington's Evening Post newspaper 1 October 1938.**   

"Rita Cook gives two portraits. One is very harsh and unpleasant in colour, and the other is a plain statement with little to support it. The landscapes which have been taken from the most unpleasant spots are too plain altogether. They are so busy too, every mark on the hillside and railway station being given full prominence, and all backed by raging skies. Why should Nature be made to appear so unrelenting?"

What would become half a century later New Zealand's most popular painting was not even referred to by title. When the National Library kindly emailed this writer a copy of the exhibition catalogue so we could identify the actual titles of the paintings Rita "Cook" had submitted, we couldn't believe that of all Angus's landscape paintings to be condemned in such harsh terms it just happened to be the painting recently voted NZ's favourite.  The four paintings exhibited by Angus were "Cass", "Mountains Cass", a portrait of "Harvey Gresham esq" and one listed simply as "Portrait" that was not for sale, presumably a self-portrait.

The full review is fascinating reading, discussing significant mid twientieth century NZ artists who had submitted work that shows how their art was seen at the time by a reviewer who clearly saw themselves as part of the established order.  The reviewer struggles unsuccessfully to fit the work of the modern artists into the development of New Zealand art and decides that not only have the painters failed to acheive their alleged objective copying overseas trends but the experimentation has led to "in some cases the ability to use paint… to have unaccountably vanished."

THE ACADEMY EXHIBITION

DEPARTURE FROM ORTHODOXY

When the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts was founded some fifty years ago, it was by men and women who, after battling with Nature, wished to devote some time and attention to the higher things of life. Theirs was a vigorous culture of a high standard, built on a sound British tradition, and the foundation of the Academy was with the object of enlarging and fostering this culture.

Art in New Zealand has largely remained traditional, as a visit to the academy's fiftieth annual exhibition which is now open will show. So far nothing new has evolved, and even that which is termed "modern" is not new. It is simply imitative of work being done abroad. But the fact that New Zealand art has hitherto been built up on tradition is no detriment. It is good to have been built up on a sound tradition brought first hand to this country by artists such as Petrus Van der Velden and James Nairn, but it would be pleasing to be able to point at the same time to signs of the beginning of a distinctive school of New Zealand art. That, however, cannot as yet be done, although by the time the academy has centennial celebrations perhaps a different story will be told.

In the meantime there are hundreds of young people attending classes in New Zealand's schools of art, but very few seem to emerge with distinction. Between the artists who have gained a standing in New Zealand and the younger painters there is a big gap. If there were more true amateurs in the realm of art in the Dominion, and not so many who endeavor to make a precarious living out of art, the best might develop more fully and continue the good work commenced so well in days gone by.

The annual exhibition of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts is representative of the work of artists right throughout the Dominion. Most of the artists who usually exhibit are doing so again this year, the two most noticeable exceptions being Sydney L. Thompson and H. Linley Richardson, both of whom are abroad at the present time. It is a pity that they were unable to send something for the jubilee exhibition so as to make it absolutely representative of the Dominion's art. The present exhibition reaches a high standard, and gives an impression of brightness and vitality. The grouping of the pictures in panels is a distinct aid to serious scrutiny, since the continuous line line usually adopted can become very monotonous.

The most important oils are hung in the main gallery and occupy the north wall. Groups of brilliant watercolors are arranged on the two south walls. The pictures in the smaller galleries have been grouped according to outlook, and some of the very fine drawings in No.5 gallery should not be overlooked.

The centre panel confronting the visitor on entering the main door is very rich in colour, with a dignified portrait of Professor J. Hight by Mrs Elizabeth Kelly, M.B.E., occupying the place of honour. This difficult subject has been treated with restraint; character is given to the sitter, and the scarlet academic gown is not allowed to detract from the portrait.

Mrs Elizabeth Kelly is a very consistent artist who has not been led astray by the many phases of experimentalism which has taken so many off the right track. She has gone on successfully doing her work and advancing year by year. Honour does not come easily to artists in this country and all New Zealand was gratified when the distinction of M.B.E. was granted this year to this well-known painter. No.65, "Miss Edith Maes", is another example of Mrs Kelly's work. It is simple in composition, fine in colour, and contains all that feminine charm which is essential to a portrait of a woman. This work has been hung in the Royal Academy Exhibition, and received a silver medal when hung in the Paris Salon. That versatility belongs to this painter is shown in No.68, "Autumn, Christchurch". The facade of the Museum provides a very picturesque subject, well handled. The colour is a delight, quiet greys with the bright tints of the autumn leaves as accents.

Cecil Kelly, of Christchurch, exhibits an oil painting of houses in sunlight which will be one of the really bright spots of the show. It is lovely in colour and carried through with consistency and charm. No.68, "Sunlit Headlands", by the same artist, is not quite so happy. The sea somehow refuses to fit in, but there is some good painting in the cliffs and foreground.

Nugent Walsh has on this occasion given more oils than watercolors, and very robust oils they are. No.63, "Land Breeze", is vigorous and fresh, with such moving, drifting clouds as one sees on a breezy day. The dark masses of trees are beautifully placed. "A Fordell Landscape" is very well designed and has grace and dignity. No.62, "A Bend in the Road", is well conceived and carried out. It has a definite quality and vitality. These oils bring out the truth of the countryside, and show distinctly that they have been produced by a true lover of nature.

Archibald F. Nicoll always has something to say, and although his works are not large, they are admirable. No.61, "Brown's Farmyard", is well composed, the dark masses of the hayricks forming a fine pattern. A luminous sky is a satisfactory background. No.53, "West Welton Road", an avenue of trees giving shade, makes a very pleasing picture. The whole picture has decorative quality and serenity. "September" has a very vigorous quality. The moving clouds throw shadows on the pasture and this happy arrangement of light and shade sets off the landscape to perfection.

VITAL FIGURE PAINTING

A.H. O'Keefe does not often show in Wellington. His two figure subjects are among the most vital in the whole exhibition. No.35, "Charlie", is delightful in its truth. Here is a boy, quite natural, no attempt being made to dress up, clothes rather in a bundle, hair not carefully brushed. But is it full of life, it is flesh and blood. The colour is lovely, the background harmonizing with the pure greys used in the jumper. "Study in a Mirror" has the same fine sense of colour, but is not quite as successful as "Charlie". The artist knows how to handle paint and sees things in a less conventional manner than many portrait painters.

Basil Honour shows a versatility of subject and his work is always looked forward to in these exhibitions. He has a remarkable ability and tackles subjects which are not of an easy nature. The large canvas, "The Cockayne Icefall", is well carried out and rings true. It is a very fine effort, the feeling of depth in the abyss very telling. No.87, "Canterbury Hills", reveals careful observation on the part of the artist, and the picture is truly typical of New Zealand. No.88, "Evening, Routeburn Valley", charmingly depicts in colour that peaceful hour of the day, and "Puponga", with its colour scheme of blue and gold, will be a favourite.

Of the two portraits shown by Mrs M.E.R. Tripe, No.77, "The Corner Table", is the more complete. The colour scheme of warm browns is carried well through, the darker colour in the gown being brought out by by the marigolds, repeated again in the brass jug, and the gold stripe in the table  cloth. The background is quiet and helpful. No.45 seems to lack solidity, and the drawing of the eyes and mouth are not satisfactory. Three decorations of flowers by this artist have charm and distinction.

J. Cam Duncan shows three small canvases of delightful subjects. They are all carried out thoroughly, and possess a distinction of their own. The colour is restrained, but nothing is lost because of this.

THE WOULD-BE "MODERNS"

Work which will be termed "modern" by many visitors to the exhibition has as far as possible been grouped together. The New Zealand Academy always encourages any work which it feels to be sincere, no matter what the artist's outlook or method of approach may be. Much of what is exhibited in this "modern" group is by artists who, until quite recently, painted in a more academic manner but who have now been influenced by certain artists who are experimenting in new phases of art. "Copyists" rather than "modernists" might be the term to apply to some of them. In some cases it would appear that the subject which has been chased has eluded them: and in some cases the ability to use paint seem to have unaccountably vanished.

John Weeks shows a group of work sufficient enough to show his advance into another school of thought. His work hangs together and is as a whole a very fine colour scheme. No.202, "Afternoon on the Seine", is a pleasing arrangement but lacks the necessary life. It is good in colour and tells its story quite plainly. No.200, "Pots and Paintrags", is very rich in colour, but too scattered. No.202, "Circus Camp, Avignon", and No.198, "Jewish Women Washing", are the two most successful efforts, with good colour and design in both. It does not matter much whether the subject is immediately apparent, the canvas as a whole pleases. In the landscape which has been treated in the same manner the whole truth is lost, it becomes simply a dark mass.

Evelyn Page, whose work in the past was eagerly looked forward to, has also embarked on an adventurous and exciting path. As most of the subjects are of scenes abroad, it would appear that during a recent sojourn outside New Zealand she has been directly under the influence of a painter who has imposed his outlook upon her. While under that influence all is fairly well, but when away from it the results are not so successful. "Charles Brasch", No.173, is quite a vigorous portrait. It is good in colour and well arranged and is painted freshly and courageously. No.174, "Outskirts of Exeter", has consistency, a sense of rhythm, and again good colour. No.172 is the most successful of all. It is full of sunlight, contains life and incident. But this is more of the type of work received from Evelyn Page in the past before she commenced to make Nature conform to her idea of what it should be.

Rita Cook [nee Rita Angus] gives two portraits. One is very harsh and unpleasant in colour, and the other is a plain statement with little to support it. The landscapes which have been taken from the most unpleasant spots are too plain altogether. They are so busy too, every mark on the hillside and railway station being given full prominence, and all backed by raging skies. Why should Nature be made to appear so unrelenting?

Russel Clark's work is disappointing. It would be better if this artist devoted more time to serious study than trying to adopt the outlook of other people. Every work is imitative, and unhappily crude in colour.

Louise Henderson is working out a way which is individual. She simplifies very well and uses the essentials to the best of their advantage. Her colour is good, delicate, but harmonious. Her work has some relation to the subject chosen, but is not too traditional.

Owen Lee depicts the clarity of the New Zealand atmosphere with truth. His work is sound and carefully considered. At the present time one can see the influence of certain mature painters in it, but with such sincerity he must develop along his own lines.

GOOD WATERCOLOURS

The watercolour section of the exhibition is particularly interesting. It is numerically stronger than the oils, and perhaps pictorially, too. This medium suits the New Zealand light, and gives a brilliance which other mediums often lack. There are works which surpass anything shown before and which will give great enjoyment and pleasure to the visitor.

It is good to see the works of one artist grouped together. This allows the onlooker to see whether it is consistent or not. Often one brilliant work appears and that shown later is disappointing. This is not the case with T.A.McCormack. All his watercolours have a fresh quality and sparkle, and each one can stand up to the other. The still life which is centered is a happy starting off for surrounding work. It is beautiful in colour, the lovely colour and shapes of the spiky flowers being well set off by the dark notes introduced by the fruit and leaves, and the delightfully freely-painted plate. On either side are a landscape, and a seascape, both quiet but rich in colour. No.11, "Across the Straits", is very complete and satisfying. The harmony of browns and greys is delightful, the green of the sea being a perfect complement. Distant hills bathed in atmosphere add a feeling of glamour. No.15, "The Poplars", is dignified and serene. It gains considerably through its restraint of colour. No.12, "Geraniums", is crisp and well conceived. The manner in which the foliage is treated is a good lesson to any student. The crystal vase shows quality of texture. Both the cloud subject and the seascape on either side of "Geraniums" have beautiful colour and are very carefully observed. There is great luminosity in the seascape.

James Cook has only two watercolours on exhibition, but No.103, "Les Angles", makes up for lack in numbers. It is a very fine drawing thoughtfully approached and well carried out. One would like to see more of this sort of work by the younger painters in New Zealand.

Nugent Welch shows three watercolors only, fresh and charming. His work is always looked forward to at these exhibitions,

Esther Hope is most successful in her works where the native nikau palms make the motif. They are both very low in tone, but give a feeling of the density and sombreness of our native bush. No.127, "My Garden", is lovely in colour, but rather scattered.

Jean McKay has several flower pieces on view. These are bright in colour and show skill in execution. A little more thought regarding composition would help them along.

Olivia Spenser Bower has used the ballet for subject, and is most successful in "Beau Danube". This has very rich colour and a good sense of rhythm.

Beatrice Seddon shows a bunch of vivid rhododendrons which enliven the end panel.

F.H. Coventry exhibits some scholarly drawings, and Eric Lee Johnston some excellent lithographs.

*[Jill Trevelyan. 'Angus, Henrietta Catherine - Biography', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10] 

**This review is one of the many millions of treasures recently brought to light through the superb Paperspast digitisation project at the National Library. NZ Art Print News gratefully acknowledges Paperspast as the source for a scan of the Evening Post that we have transcribed for this article.