Art History Signs

BENVENUE CLIFFS

Michael Armstrong (1954)
Blackett on the Breakwater, 2019
Acrylic on canvas
Friends of the Aigantighe Collection, Aigantighe Art Gallery, 2019.24.1

Known as the ‘cemetery of ships’, Timaru historically provided ‘no safe harbour’. The construction of a breakwater, using large concrete blocks, began in 1878 to address the problem.

John Blackett, an engineer and lighthouse designer for the Public Works Department, wrote a progress report for the government on the new breakwater. The findings of the report recommended dismantling the breakwater, because it supposedly caused erosion to a railway viaduct in Caroline Bay. (These predictions were later found to be correct and accelerated erosion to the north affecting the local lagoons).

Blackett’s report was very unpopular at the time and a public protest ensued. A mob of hundreds marched down Stafford Street with an effigy of Blackett, which they blew up at the end of the breakwater on June 2, 1880.

In this painting, seated in the lower left, is Blackett with the wreck of Fairy Queen - a 214-ton brig that broke its mooring in a southeast gale, caught fire and beached on August 27, 1873. Blakett’s effigy is on the right, exploding on the breakwater, next to a reference to Anderson’s crane employed to lift the 30-ton concrete blocks used in the breakwater.

CAROLINE BAY PLAYGROUND

Francine Spencer
Ngā kai ā te Moana, 2023
Acrylic on Board
Friends of the Alganlighe Collection, Alganlighe Art Gallery, 2023.18.1

This artwork by local artist Francine Spencer is a celebration of Māori culture and the bounty of the sea. Drawing from her whatapapa, including Taranaki, Waitaha, Kati Mamoe, Rapuwai, and Ngāi Tahu, Spencer blends traditional knowledge with contemporary artistic expression.

Inspired by the curiosity of children, Spencer’s artwork depicts a variety of kai maana (seafood and shellfish) which can be found in the kāinga mahika kai area for mana whenua and the wider Ngāi Tahu iwi. The Timaru coastline is part of a busy coastal travel route between lakes Wairewa, Waitarakao (Washdyke Lagoon) and further south. This painting encourages young viewers to explore the treasures of the sea and contemplate the marine life of the Timaru coast.

This artwork is a reminder of the importance of understanding our cultural heritage, guiding us to self-awareness and the significance of our shared natural environment.

CAROLINE BAY PLAYGROUND

Sue Tennant
Act 1 – Scene 3 – The British Empire, 2020
Oil on board
Algorithmic Collection, Algonfique Art Gallery, 2020.9.1 (detail)

This painting is by the local artist Sue Tennant. Her paintings are inspired by photographs and accounts of her family’s ancestors embarking on their immigration voyage to the land of Aotearoa (New Zealand).

Her husband’s ancestors arrived in New Zealand in 1864 after travelling on the ship called the British Empire. On this voyage, there was a man called Mr Prince, he brought cages of birds from Britain with him to populate the new and exciting land of Aotearoa. A newspaper published on the voyage, called the *British Empire Gazette*, recorded that Mr Prince brought 5 skylarks, 3 woodlarks, 1 goldfinch, 3 linnets, 1 thrush, and 1 cock pheasant with him on board.

Sue Tennant has painted *Act 1 – Scene 3 – The British Empire* on this voyage. She has placed the ship in a choppy sea set against an expansive sky, and draws attention to the birds transported on board – painting them in a magnified way in flight or perched on branches that seem to grow out of the ship. The painting also shows that, rather sadly, not all of the birds survive the long journey to their new home.

CAROLINE BAY PLAYGROUND

Roselyn Cloake
Infinite or Finite? Lens Series 2, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
Friends of the Aiganlighe Collection, Aiganlighe Art Gallery, 2023.28.1

This artwork by Roselyn Fauth (nee Cloake) offers a fresh perspective on our world and cycles of life. A sixth-generation local with Dutch heritage, she draws inspiration from her family, and in this painting they are symbolized as light and wind through the use of colour and fragmented shapes that gives us a sense that the painting is swirling and moving.

Movement and cycles in this painting also point to the artist’s reflection on geological cycles, for example, the stages of lava – from a flowing hot molten liquid to a hard and stationary rock, and even to a substance that is ground down over time and swept away by the wind. Fauth reflects on the length of time these cycles take and how short our lives as people are in comparison.

Fauth is influenced by cubist artists and uses an infinity symbol with colours that break it into facets. Reminiscent of a lighthouse lens, it is like her painting encourages us to shine a spotlight and have a closer look at our natural world and consider the impact our choices will have on future generations.

Weaving together thoughts of ancestry and geology, Fauth asks us to ponder the concepts of infinity and finiteness – through thinking about the vast scale of geological time versus our own lifetimes.

CAROLINE BAY

Lindsay Crooks (1957-2005)
Untitled – Carnival Scene, 1983
Watercolour on paper
Aigantighe Art Gallery Collection 2009.4

In this watercolour painting, Crooks brings a joyous vibrancy to a scene from Timaru’s iconic Caroline Bay Carnival. People watch brightly-coloured rides whirring through cheerfully coloured skies, capturing the special role that the Carnival played, and continues to play, in South Canterbury.

The Carnival has been an annual Christmas event since 1911, and is the longest running event of its kind in New Zealand. It was established as part of plans to develop Timaru in the style of a European beachfront resort. Along with tearooms, swimming pools, tennis courts and the Soundshell, the Carnival was a major attraction, offering visitors to South Canterbury countless thrills every summer.

Lindsay Crooks was born in Timaru in 1957 and attended Timaru Boy’s High School before moving to Dunedin to study fine arts at Otago Polytechnic. Upon graduating, Crooks pursued a career as a professional artist and exhibited widely around New Zealand throughout his life.

CAROLINE BAY

William Greene (1872-1925)
The Unemployed, 1912
Oil on canvas
Algorithme Art Gallery Collection 2002.10

William Greene came to New Zealand with his family from Australia in 1874, they first located to Dunedin and then moved to Timaru. Greene then left to study art in Melbourne and London. He returned to Timaru c.1894 and opened his painting studio in Bank Street, near the Woollen Factory. Greene was also a founding member of the South Canterbury Art Society.

Greene loved to paint animals, particularly within rural landscapes. The Unemployed, 1912, is a painting of the well-known donkeys that gave rides at Caroline Bay. Children were delighted, during the summer months, with a ride up and down the beach on these donkeys – whose names are recorded from left to right as Snowball, Sambo, Emma and Matilda.

William Greene, in *The Unemployed*, has captured these famous donkeys in a moment of rest before the next eager rider arrives.

CAROLINE BAY

William Gibb (1859-1931)

Timaru Harbour, 1888
Oil on Canvas
Aigantighe Art Gallery Collection 2002.10

William Gibb was born at Innellan, Scotland and immigrated to Christchurch in 1876. He received his art training from his father, John Gibb (1831-1909), and then studied at the National Gallery School in Melbourne from 1877 to 1879. He returned to Christchurch in 1882 and painted portraiture and landscapes.

In Timaru Harbour_, Gibb has painted a snapshot of the shipping industry and the newly built wharves. Previously, ships anchored offshore and used smaller boats to transport their cargo ashore. But by the late 1860s, it was decided that this was restricting Timaru's growth. In the 1870s and 1880s large concrete southern and northern breakwaters were constructed to shelter the area that would become the harbour. In 1880 the first wharf was built, followed by a second wharf in 1886.

Gibb has captured this scene of commerce with The Bruce (the central ship with area and black funnel) and The Taniwha (the small dredge moving out of the port) and other sailing ships contrasted against the backdrop of a purple sky and the swelling of seemingly electric blue ocean.

CAROLINE BAY

Ainslie Manson (1917-1983)
Timaru Port, c.1957
Oil on canvas
Alganitighe Art Gallery Collection 1996.33

The construction of Timaru’s marine port in the late nineteenth-century played a crucial role in the development of the town and wider region. Breakwaters and wharfs were built, allowing ships to anchor closer to shore, rather than along reefs. With these additions, cargo could be offloaded and passengers could disembark directly onto land, rather than onto smaller boats to be ferried ashore. The development of the harbour spurred local businesses and helped form Caroline Bay, which continues to be enjoyed as a place to swim and play.

Ainslie Manson studied at the Canterbury College of Arts and served in World War II, before been appointed as Head of the Art Department at Timaru’s Technical College. He was also an active member of the South Canterbury Art Society, serving as president in 1954. He assisted in establishing the Alganitighe Art Gallery, which opened in 1956, later becoming the gallery’s director from 1970-1982.

CAROLINE BAY - MARINE PARADE

Russell Clark (1905-1966)
Caroline Bay Timaru During a Southerly Gale, c.1950
Acrylic on board
Aigantighe Art Gallery Collection 1995.22

Caroline Bay Timaru During a Southerly Gale captures a stormy view of the Bay Hill, looking back along the sea wall at the iconic Hydro Grand Hotel. The building was designed in 1912. It recalls the architectural styles of British seaside towns such as Brighton and Bournemouth and was built when Timaru’s Caroline Bay was known as the Riviera of the South. The Hydro Grand operated as a popular hotel, bar and restaurant for many decades, but was demolished in 2017.

Russell Clark was born in Christchurch and attended the Canterbury College School of Art from 1922-28. Clark spent much of his early career as a commercial artist, producing advertisements and cartoons for publications across the country. In 1947, he became a teacher at the School of Fine Art in Christchurch, and throughout the 1950s he began to take a more experimental approach to his own art, drawing from the modernist styles and ideas which were popular amongst Christchurch artists at the time.

PATITI POINT

William Ferrier (1855-1922)
Breakwater Timaru Running a Southerly Gale,1888
Oil on canvas
Algantighe Art Gallery Collection 2002.10

William Ferrier was bornin Edinburgh, Scotland, and immigrated to New Zealand in 1869. He trained as a photographer in Christchurch and Oamaru, and in 1881, set up his own studio in Timaru. Ferrier was the grandfather of the well-known New Zealand painter, Colin McCahon (1919-87), who was born in Timaru.

Ferrier is known for his success in documenting a vital part of Timaru's history on photographic film, but he was also a painter. His landscape paintings were exhibited with the South Canterbury Art Society, of which he was a founding member. He was also a member of the Otago Art Society and Canterbury Society of Arts.

Breakwater Timaru Running a Southerly Gale was produced from one of Ferrier's photographs (see reproduced above) This seascape, with its crashing waves and stormy skies shows the power of nature, and was a popular theme Ferrier returned to in both photography and painting.

CAROLINE BAY

Clifford Brunsden (1909-1969)
Timaru from South Street Railway Bridge, c.1960
Oil on canvas
Aigantighe Art Gallery Collection 2003.36

Standing at the Railway Bridge on South Street, this painting captures a view of Timaru’s industrial centre, which was intersected by the Main South Line - a railway service running between Christchurch and Invercargill. Construction of the railways began in the 1860s, and Timaru’s sections were completed in 1876 (while the port was also undergoing extensive development). This rail network provided a vital link between Timaru and the wider South Island, allowing the freighting of goods to and from the port. In Timaru today these freight services still operate, but passenger trains were disestablished in 2002 after declining use.

Clifford Brunsden was born in Timaru and attended Timaru Boys High School and was taught by A.J. Rae. Like many young New Zealanders, Brunsden chose to travel after his studies, visiting Britain, Europe and Australia. In 1955, Brunsden returned to Timaru and was appointed first director of the Aigantighe Art Gallery, which opened the following year, in 1956.

PATITI POINT 

John Liddington Higgs (1864-1919)
Timaru Coastline, 1884
Oil on board
Algantighe Art Gallery Collection 2002.1

In this painting John L. Higgs captures the view from Patti Point looking north towards central Timaru and its harbour in 1884.He has given prominence to a large six-storey building known as the Timaru Milling Company.

The Timaru Milling Company building was built in 1882, replacing a wooden mill that burnt down on this site in in 1881. The mill was the first in New Zealand to use steel rollers rather than grindstones for milling. This fact and how the painting records the height and size of the new brick Timaru Milling Company, seems to be a celebration of the feat of engineering human accomplishment depicted alongside, and as a comparison, to the natural beauty, but also vast wildness, of the Timaru coastline.

John L. Higgs was the son of John and Alice Higgs who had a farm on Wai-iti Road. Higgs later moved to Blenheim, where he ran a picture framing and signwriting business for many years.

CAROLINE BAY

William Greene (1872-1925)
The Roadmakers, 1916
Oil on canvas
Alganrighe Art Gallery Collection 2002.10

William Greene was born in Australia and came to New Zealand with his family in 1874. After living in Dunedin and then Timaru, Green then left to study art in Melbourne and London. He returned to Timaru in c.1894 and took a teaching position at Timaru Boys High in 1912 and then in 1914 at the Timaru Technical College.

In London Greene had attended the Calderon School of Animal Painting in Kensington. He was an avid painter of horses, and *The Road Makers*, 1916, is a prime example of this. This seemingly effortless, vibrant and detailed painting of four horses ploughing a new road beside the sea is depicting an event that actually took place. The man situated on the left of the painting driving the team of horses (whose names were Star, Prince, Ben and Jock) is John Deans (1846-1932), a Farmer from Waimate who was contracted by the Borough Council to plough the roads. It took hard labour to level the ground and form new roads, but this was necessary for a growing town.