In Brilliant Light

‘…its curious tonal quality, its lack of conventional greens and the brilliant light and the most intractable colour of those hills.’
Doris Lusk, 3 June 1986.

Within Aotearoa New Zealand’s art history, the 1930s saw the emergence of what has been described as a ‘distinctly New Zealand style of painting’. From this period through to the 1970s, terms ranging from ‘real’, ‘raw’, ‘hard-edged’, ‘clear’, ‘austere’, ‘rugged’, ‘eroded’ and ‘stark’, came to define artistic interpretations of the regional landscape, and specifically, the presence of a particular light that was unique to Aotearoa New Zealand. This idea of a specific and intense quality of ‘New Zealand light’ steadfastly anchored itself within the canon of mid-twentieth century landscape painting. A debated area within the national discourse, some writers, including Hamish Keith and Gordon H. Brown believed this was crucial in understanding New Zealand painting. Others, such as art historian Francis Pound, positioned this ‘hard-edged style’ or ‘the regional real’ as a myth that saw ‘nature used as an alibi for style’.

Considering this moment in art history, In brilliant light brings together a group of works from the Dunedin Public Art Gallery collection that focus on the Central Otago landscape. Produced between 1930 and 1971 by artists including Rita Angus, W. H. Allen, Olivia Spencer Bower, Doris Lusk, and Shona McFarlane, among others, these paintings explore artists’ experiences of and responses to the region in the mid-twentieth century. A symbol of rural life, isolation, and unique and unpopulated landscapes, the Central Otago region had a strong presence in New Zealand regionalism, through works that were underpinned by a focus on place and local identity.

While travelling across Aotearoa New Zealand in the late 1930s, Rita Angus spent time in Wānaka. Lake Wanaka (1938) and Lake Wanaka, Pembroke (1939) were the result of her painting expeditions in the region and reflect the importance of this landscape on Angus’ distinctive artistic language. She wrote, ‘You will notice that the eyes are intent on the mountains and not on man. I wanted the mountains…’. Like Angus, W. H. Allen was part of a generation credited for their role in redefining how the New Zealand landscape was depicted in art, with Lake Hawea (1930) reflecting an approach grounded in personal experience and modernist ideas. Born in Ōtepoti Dunedin in 1916, Doris Lusk made her first trip to Central Otago in the mid-1930s. Throughout her career, Lusk was drawn to the natural environment, with Eroded Hills, St Bathans (1963) reflecting her modern approach to colour, line and form. For artists Olivia Spencer Bower and Esther Hope, the expansive and tussock covered MacKenzie Country was captured in skilful washes of watercolour, while Myra Kirkpatrick’s Crouching Headland (1959) reflects the stark juxtaposition between the turquoise waters and clay cliffs of St Bathans.