A. Lois White Religion and Life

Religion is a recurrent motif in the work of A. Lois White. Born in 1903, the artist was brought up in a devout Methodist household in Auckland. According to the late art historian Nicola Green, “Her religious upbringing developed a spirituality in her and a love of the literary qualities of the Bible that were constantly to inspire her and later to permeate her art.”1 While this influence fed her artmaking, it also proved to be double edged. Green states: “[White] was hampered too by being raised in the socially introverted Methodist community and by a sense of obligation to church and family, impressed upon her at an early age.”2

The influence of White’s religious upbringing is very much to the fore in her 1935 painting Religion and Life. The work depicts a clearly religious figure, perhaps a saint, bathed in light and holding a crucifix. Other figures clustered around the saint exhibit attitudes evidently ranging from reverence to derision. The work was exhibited in the 1935 Auckland Society of Arts exhibition, and later in the same year at the Otago Art Society. It attracted positive comments from a range of publications, including the Otago Daily Times, which stated:

“

Religion and Life … is immensely strong in form and arrangement. The colour is rich and eminently harmonious and rhythmic elements, such as the repetition of raised hands, heighten a dramatic effect that it is full of hidden meaning.”3

Religion and Life is a major work in White’s oeuvre. Its compositional strength and rich, allegorical subject matter position it among the artist’s finest paintings.

15 Adele Younghusband

Singing Girls

1951 oil on canvasboard signed Adele Younghusband and dated 1951 in brushpoint lower right 445 × 370mm

EST $80,000 — $160,000

PROVENANCE

Private collection, Auckland. Acquired from Important Paintings & Contemporary Art, Webb's, Auckland, 11 August 2016, lot 27.

Adele Younghusband Singing Girls

Adele Younghusband was an intriguing artist, known for depicting bold and empathetic imagery of working and social situations. Her artworks are recognisable for their strong design and composition. Originally a photographer, Younghusband came to work as both a printmaker and painter. Throughout her life and career, she was a strong advocate for the arts, serving as a founding member of art societies in Whangārei and Hamilton.

In 1937, Younghusband travelled to Melbourne, Australia, where she studied with George Bell; during this period, she developed an interest in abstract and surrealist ideas. Following this, Younghusband became known as a modernist, was called “a New Zealand surrealist” by Arthur Hipwell in Art in New Zealand in 1941, and was one of the ‘progressive painters’ in the Phoenix Group in the 1950s.

Singing Girls (1951) is a fine example of Younghusband’s mature work. To those familiar with her oeuvre, the painting echoes her stylised treatment of forms that are a hallmark of her linocuts. However, here the subject matter differs significantly; Singing Girls does not depict an industrial or domestic scene, as was common in Younghusband’s work. Rather, the fluid, delicate forms of the women depict a choir scene, overlapping in areas to create passages of harmonious tonal composition. The women sing in synchronisation: their mouths are open midsong; each is attentive and contemplative; their eyes are lowered, as if reading song sheets. Within the work, the women can be read as both a unified group and as independent individuals.

The rich colours and planar symmetry of the figures attest to the strong modernism of the piece. Works such as Singing Girls, along with her stilllife studies, demonstrate Younghusband’s affinity with cubist concepts. Pastel harmonies and the organic correlation of forms, such as those within Singing Girls, were developed by Younghusband to create bold, emotive scenes that are modernist, abstract and surrealist in style.

Singing Girls is a wonderful example of Younghusband’s affinity for composition and design; this emotive, stylised piece is recognisable as her work due to these elements, as well as the bright palette. The fluidity of the figures is a delightful touch, a nod to the atmosphere of the scene depicted.

“I paint for myself. That’s the only way. For when you paint to please it’s not the honest thing and inhibits the chances of discovery, because there’s no point in writing or painting unless you make your own discoveries.”1

Born in England, Olivia Spencer Bower initially came to reluctantly New Zealand with her family in her mid-teens but learned to call this country home and to cherish its landscape, particularly in the South Island. She was a superb watercolourist, but worked in a wide variety of mediums and was always keen to experiment, and remained open to new ideas.

Spencer Bower began attending classes at the Canterbury College School of Art as a 16-year-old, initially only on Wednesday afternoons, but later as a full-time student, winning scholarships annually, and graduating with a Diploma in Fine Arts at the age of 24. She subsequently travelled to England to study figure and portrait painting at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London in 1930. From there she made an extended painting trip to France and Italy. After her return to New Zealand in 1931 she continued to travel and to explore in her adopted country, painting at every opportunity.

In 1933 Spencer Bower began exhibiting with The Group and soon acquired a reputation as an ‘experimentalist’ and an

16 Olivia Spencer Bower

Spinning Triptych c1970s acrylic on board signed Olivia Spencer Bower in brushpoint lower right; signed Olivia Spencer Bower and inscribed 'Spinning Triptych' in brushpoint verso

760 × 1485mm

EST $35,000 — $65,000

PROVENANCE

Private collection, Christchurch. Acquired from The Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch, c1980s.

EXHIBITIONS exceptional watercolour painter. Spencer Bower remained a member of The Group, exhibiting with them regularly, until they disbanded in the 1970s. and significant body of works, building on and developing the themes of relationships among women seen in her work of previous decades. “An analysis of the series reveals how it constitutes an extensive examination of the relationships between women and between women and the land. Spencer Bower was unusual among women artists of her generation because she expressed an awareness of a relation between her gender and art. This is supported by the connection established between her life and painting.”2

Olivia Spencer-Bower, The Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch, c1980s.

From the late 1950s on, Spencer Bower frequently visited her friend Minta Brittan, who ran a spinning bee at Mount Enys, in the Canterbury high country. From her sketches during these visits, Spencer Bower developed her celebrated Spinners series of approximately 35 works, mostly painted in acrylic. The series evolved during the 1960s and continued into the 1970s, the period when spinning was revived as a popular craft activity and practised predominantly by women.

In her thesis on Spencer Bower’s figurative paintings, Judith Hamilton cites the Spinners series as the artist’s most extensive

Following her usual practice, Spencer Bower began with conventional descriptive renderings of her subjects before transforming her visions into the semi-abstract.

4

The women Spencer Bower portrays spinning are generally featureless, their anonymity expressing the private nature of women’s lives and creative activity. In the majority of the works they are shown in abstracted settings. As Hamilton points out, “the focal points of the compositions are the abstracted circular shapes of the spinning wheels and spinners themselves, ‘particularly their active hands; in combination, hands and wheels form the essential link in this activity between machine and worker and both are constantly in motion. This sense of continuous rhythmic movement is repeated throughout the series and is particularly evident in the larger figure groups.”3

Isolation and introspection are evident in Spinning Triptych, where the composition, conceived as a triptych, is divided into three sections defined by vertical banks of colour. “The formal division and symbolism are perfectly integrated … The rich colour combination connects the three panels, creating an emotionally charged atmosphere … transforming the domestic scene into a fantasy world.”4 ac.nz/handle/10092/3917

17

Milan Mrkusich

Two Areas, Orange and Maroon 1980 acrylic on board signed Mrkusich, dated '80 and inscribed Two Areas, Orange & Maroon 1980 in brushpoint verso 1225 × 1830mm

EST $50,000 — $70,000

Provenance

Private collection, Auckland. Acquired from The Les and Milly Paris Collection, Art+Object, Auckland, 19 September 2012, lot 67.

Exhibitions

Hit Parade: Contemporary Art from the Paris Family Collection; Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington, 1992–1993; A Decade Further On: 1974–1983, Auckland City Gallery, Auckland, 1985; Carnegie International, Museum of Art Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1982–1983; New Zealand Painting Selected for Carnegie International, Dunedin Public Gallery, Dunedin, 1982.

Literature

Alan Wright and Edward

Hanfling, Mrkusich: The Art of Transformation (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2009), 9.