KEY ARTISTS:
Hodgkins, Angus, Sutton, Lusk & McCahon
KEY MEANINGS:
Sense of place
Cultural
Social and everyday life
Spiritual & Religious Beliefs:
(Church motifs in Regionalism & McCahon)
KEY CONTEXTS:
Geographic |
Historical |
Social |
Cultural |
Hodgkins:
The country’s geographic remoteness from other major art centres in Europe contributed to a sense of isolation from modern ideas and movements. Regionalism: NZ's geographic isolation is what provides its unique qualities as an independent nation - artistic depiction of the specific, identifiable regions to construct an image of NZ's own national identity |
1907: NZ gains a dominion status attaining a degree of self-governance.
The World War I & II: NZ sent troops to aid the British force. The Centennial celebration of the Treaty in 1940 then NZ became an independent nation in 1947. |
Hodgkins:
NZ was still a colonial society which sought to reproduce British & European ways of life and values. However, there was a limited access to artistic opportunities in NZ, prompting many talented individuals to leave and become 'The Expatriates'. Regionalism: Furthering from colonisation, NZ progressed with urbanisation & modernisation as it became more economically and socially independent. A sense of nationalism grew as NZ moved from being a colony to a nation. |
NZ offered limited opportunities and resources of understanding modern art. Expatriates like Hodgkins saw the acquisition of overseas experience as important for their professional development.
American Regionalism (1938 touring Canadian Regionalist exhibition) & La Trobe Scheme (1920s) encouraged young artists to develop a distinctive painting style reflective of NZ's own national identity. |
Centennial Exhibition 1940 |
NZ Centenary Celebrations |
NZ Economy Flourishes 1950s |
Life in NZ 1950s-60s |
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THE EXPATRIATE MODERNISTFrances Hodgkins (1869-1947) Frances Hodgkins was born in Dunedin. She was the daughter of William Mathew Hodgkins, a lawyer who was also an amateur watercolour painter. It was his influence that helped shape the creative ability of his daughter. In her early twenties Hodgkins studied with Nerli, an Italian painter who was visiting Dunedin. Under Nerli’s guidance Hodgkins began to develop a bolder style which concentrated less on landscape and more on the human figure in an Impressionist style.
In 1901 Hodgkins left New Zealand for Europe. She travelled extensively on the Continent and in North Africa, and during this time she produced many fine watercolours. In 1902 she exhibited in London for the first time and the following year had work accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy. Later that year Hodgkins returned to New Zealand and settled in Wellington, but in 1906 returned to Europe, determined to pursue a career as an artist. Hodgkins travelled extensively in Europe and enjoyed success. She had her first solo exhibition in London, won two art competitions, and her paintings were accepted by prestigious institutions in Paris – the Salon and the Société Internationale d'Aquarellistes. In 1908 Hodgkins settled in Paris where she painted and taught, becoming the first woman to be appointed instructor at the Académie Colarossi, one of the city’s leading art schools. Hodgkins returned briefly to New Zealand in 1912, mainly to visit her parents, but while here she also organised exhibitions of her work. After the visit Hodgkins returned to Europe to settle permanently, intending to resume her life as an artist and teacher. The outbreak of World War I forced Hodgkins to move from Paris to St Ives, a small fishing village in Cornwall, England. Here she found it difficult to travel or earn money and endured considerable hardship. However, it also meant that she had time to paint, and she experimented with larger works, using oil and tempera as an alternative to watercolours. Her works from this time show the influence of Post-Impressionism. The artist referred to her post-war period as her ‘experimental years’. She wrote to her mother that the reason she didn’t send more work out to New Zealand from this time was that ‘it has become a bit too modern and I find it very difficult to return to my earlier and more easily selling style.’ When Hodgkins sent some paintings completed in 1921 to the Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington, they were rejected. In 1929 Hodgkins was invited to join the avant-garde Seven and Five Society, a distinguished and progressive group of young English artists. This provided an important outlet for Hodgkins’ work. Towards the end of her life Hodgkins finally gained the acclaim denied to her for so long. In her later years Hodgkins painted in her studio in England, still continuing to experiment with different mediums and styles. ‘Probably Frances Hodgkins’ most impressive quality was this ability to recharge her artistic vocabulary, to search continually for a more meaningful way to express her vision. She approached most of her paintings, whether in oil, watercolour or gouache [watercolour mixed with opaque white paint], as though facing unexplored territory.’ By the time she reached her seventies, Hodgkins’ paintings were highly sought after. Although she produced some of her best-known works in her later years, ill health and failing strength made it difficult for her to meet the demand for her work. When she died in 1947 at the age of 78, Frances Hodgkins was regarded as one of Britain’s leading artists. While many in New Zealand were hostile to Hodgkins’ work during her lifetime, she is now generally accepted as one of this country’s most prestigious and influential painters. collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/935 |
A New New Zealand Art
REGIONALISM
In the 1930s and 1940s a distinctly New Zealand style of painting began to emerge.
At this time there was an increasing demand by critics like James Shelley (1884–1961) and A.R.D. Fairburn (1904–57) for painters to pay greater attention to local subjects. In 1934 the poet and art critic A. R. D. Fairburn compared New Zealand and British art: ‘There is no golden mist in our air, no Merlin in our woods, no soft, warm colours … Hard, clear light reveals the bones, the sheer form, of hills, trees, stones and scrub. We must draw rather than paint, even if we are using a brush, or we shall not be perfectly truthful.’
What developed was a New Zealand style of Regionalism that is characterised by a preoccupation with place and local identity. The centre of Regionalist painting in this country was Christchurch, with pupils and teachers at the Canterbury College School of Art the main exponents.
The closest overseas models were American Regionalist artists of the late 1920s and early 1930s such as Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton. Reproductions of their work clearly influenced Rita Angus. With their honest depictions of small town and rural life, Regionalist artists in America sought to produce art that was accessible to the general public – not just intellectuals.
At this time there was an increasing demand by critics like James Shelley (1884–1961) and A.R.D. Fairburn (1904–57) for painters to pay greater attention to local subjects. In 1934 the poet and art critic A. R. D. Fairburn compared New Zealand and British art: ‘There is no golden mist in our air, no Merlin in our woods, no soft, warm colours … Hard, clear light reveals the bones, the sheer form, of hills, trees, stones and scrub. We must draw rather than paint, even if we are using a brush, or we shall not be perfectly truthful.’
What developed was a New Zealand style of Regionalism that is characterised by a preoccupation with place and local identity. The centre of Regionalist painting in this country was Christchurch, with pupils and teachers at the Canterbury College School of Art the main exponents.
The closest overseas models were American Regionalist artists of the late 1920s and early 1930s such as Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton. Reproductions of their work clearly influenced Rita Angus. With their honest depictions of small town and rural life, Regionalist artists in America sought to produce art that was accessible to the general public – not just intellectuals.
Regionalism in New Zealand was not such a formal doctrine. Artists tended to approach the landscape with a diversity of styles and a range of interests. They dealt with themes of isolation and loneliness, and celebrated rural life and the virtues of honest work. Another aspect often remarked upon in these works is the crisp, clearly defined forms and stark contrast between light and dark. This is attributed to an artist’s response to the harsh qualities of the New Zealand light as championed by Christopher Perkins, an English artist who had just come to New Zealand. He said that ‘the future of New Zealand as a country for painters [was] guaranteed by its marvelous light’. He attempted to capture this in his own paintings.
The Regionalist style can be characterised by a number of features:
The depiction of unpopulated landscapes with motifs to signify settlement is also typical of this period.
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REGIONALISM - KEY ARTISTS (THE GROUP)
✨CLICK✨ on the art works for more information.
Rita Angus (1908-1970)
Educated at the Canterbury School of Arts, Rita Angus first exhibited with The Group in 1932.
She was influenced by Cézanne and her landscapes of Canterbury and, later, Central Otago had strong geometric forms and powerful colours. She usually painted oils in the studio based on open air sketches. Angus also painted portraits, including over 50 self-portraits, which were enriched with symbols and expressive of her own feminist and pacifist convictions. |
William (Bill) Sutton (1917-2000)
Bill Sutton's representation of the Canterbury landscape gained him national recognition as one of the country’s finest Regionalist painter. Sutton’s work before 1955 was Regionalist realism, but the artist’s eye for the abstract in nature became more acute as he grew older.
Sutton’s lifeblood was the hot and blustery nor’wester and he was famous for works such as Nor’wester in a Cemetery (1950). For Sutton “heaven is standing in the full blast of a boisterous, blustery nor’west gale as it howls down from the mountains, roaring through the foothills and across the plains ... I get a bit high ... it is almost as of I am part of the nor’wester itself”. |
Doris Lusk (1916-1990)
Lusk studied at the Dunedin School of Art (1934-1939), tutored by R.N. Field, an English artist who introduced his students to theories of modernism.
Her early Regionalist landscape paintings included bridges and industrial buildings, examining the discordant relationship between nature and humanity. In 1942 she moved to Christchurch, establishing a long standing relationship with its arts community, exhibiting with The Group and Canterbury Society of Arts. Her painting The Pumping Station (1958) remains an important mature work. Lusk’s work retained an interest in the environment, evident in the paintings of her later years. |
Colin McCahon (1919-1987)
McCahon grew up in Dunedin, attended the local art school and then settled in Christchurch in 1948. From boyhood McCahon invested the hills with religious feelings – he later said he saw ‘an angel in this land’. But unlike colonial painters, who aimed to reflect God through nature, McCahon located a crucified Christ in the landscape – a symbol perhaps of his own feelings of cultural isolation. Although Cézanne was an influence, McCahon also looked to early Italian Renaissance painters whose style fashioned the strong lines of his hills. From an early fascination with signwriters and the example of medieval paintings which include biblical text, he used words in his painting to express powerful feelings.
In 1953 McCahon moved to Auckland and the influence of Cubism on his art became stronger; this was particularly evident in a series of paintings of kauri trees. In 1958 he visited the United States and saw work by abstract expressionist painters, after which his painting evolved into more abstract work. |
“McCahon was the artist who gave New Zealand a powerful visual identity and for that he is revered in his homeland.
That he went further, to explore and communicate through the medium of painting the universal questions and concerns of humanity, is why we, in other parts of the world, must recognise him as a great modern Master.”
– Stedelijk Museum director and veteran director of the Venice Biennale, Rudi Fuchs, Colin McCahon: A Question of Faith, 2002
That he went further, to explore and communicate through the medium of painting the universal questions and concerns of humanity, is why we, in other parts of the world, must recognise him as a great modern Master.”
– Stedelijk Museum director and veteran director of the Venice Biennale, Rudi Fuchs, Colin McCahon: A Question of Faith, 2002