Jonathan Grant Galleries
Douglas MacDiarmid: An Artist Abroad
Time Devouring Time Acrylic on paper 45 x 64 cm, signed & dated 2012 – 2013
Self Portrait on Wet Paving Stones Acrylic on paper 57 x 76 cm, signed & dated 2010 -2013
Illustrated cover: Heat Wave, DamrĂŠmont-Caulaincourt Acrylic on paper 57 x 76 cm, signed & dated 2003 - 2004
Mt Ste. Victoire III Acrylic on paper 45 x 64 cm, signed & dated 2012
Mont Saint Victoire I (Love letter to a landscape) Acrylic on paper 57 x 76 cm, signed & dated 2010
Ariadne (From '95 note) Acrylic on paper 45 x 64 cm, signed & dated 2003
Nile I Acrylic on paper 51 x 66 cm, signed & dated 2000
Lay Your Sleeping Head I (From the W H Auden poem) Acrylic on paper 45 x 64 cm, signed & dated 2012
Arletty Acrylic on paper 64 x 45 cm, signed & dated 2012
Lay Your Sleeping Head IIÂ (From the W H Auden poem) Pastel 45 x 64 cm, signed & dated 2012
Boka Kotorska (Montenegro) Acrylic on paper 58 x 76 cm, signed & dated 2009
Red Queen Acrylic on paper 61 x 43 cm, signed & dated 2011
I neither live nor work to formula, responding mostly to stimuli inner or outer, which have the effect of command. Mood evolves as the painting proceeds & decides the degree of abstraction or figuration, in general a blend of both, given the liberty & elusiveness of vision. Douglas MacDiarmid 2013
Expatriate New Zealand artist, Douglas MacDiarmid, who lives in Paris, has been vitally involved with key movements in twentieth-century art. Born in Taihape on the 14th November 1922, MacDiarmid studied at the Canterbury University in Christchurch where he was immersed in the New Zealand art movements of the time. MacDiarmid fondly recalls his time spent in Christchurch and states, back in the 1940’s in Christchurch, how passionate we were as raw university students at the mercy of a whole gamut of immature impulsions. During this period MacDiarmid was associated with the avant-garde Christchurch ‘Group’. His tuition by Evelyn Page and his great admiration for Matisse greatly informed his sense of colour. MacDiarmid served in both the Army and the Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War. After the end of the war MacDiarmid moved to Paris. He made the move to France in order to pursue his career as an artist and in his own words, to devour the rest of the world. MacDiarmid’s painterly awareness was fostered by events as various as viewing the work of El Greco in Spain and in Italy, the paintings of Giotto. Douglas MacDiarmid’s art is held in public collections throughout New Zealand including the Alexander Turnbull Library, BNZ Collection, Hocken Library, Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Dowse Art Museum, Victoria University and Te Papa Tongarewa: Museum of New Zealand. He has been exhibiting in New Zealand since his 1950 show at the Helen Hitchings Gallery in Wellington and 1968 the QEII Arts Council held a Retrospective Show of his work. In 2006 Eric Grinda produced and directed a feature length film, A Stanger Everywhere, on the artist and his life. MacDiarmid has also exhibited in Paris, Athens, Casablanca and London to great acclaim.
City Pressures I Acrylic on paper 64 x 35 cm, signed & dated 2012
Grace Alty, Auckland 2013
280 Parnell Road PO Box 37 673 Parnell Auckland New Zealand Tel: (64-9) 308 9125 E-Mail: jg@jgg.co.nz
Website: www.jgg.co.nz
FA09.2013
Jonathan Grant Galleries