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Overview
Everyone loves a mystery, and there are plenty of those in the field of colonial art — unknown artists and sitters, curious provenances and undated works. The often blurred boundaries of the professional and the amateur artist in the colonial context gave rise to a wealth of pictures that still pose questions today.
This compelling painting is one of those. It shows a young girl standing in the bush, a bouquet of freshly picked flowers lying in a bonnet at her feet, one small sprig in her hand. She is in her ‘best dress’ which, in keeping with the fashion of the day, mimics the style of adults’ clothing but with a shortened skirt. The tree stump on which she rests her hand seems to be an alternative for the classical column of a studio setting, but the tree fern to her left suggests a New Zealand context. This is the same native bush that provided the setting for Jane Campion’s 1993 film The Piano, but this girl lacks the rumbustiousness of young Flora, played by Anna Paquin. She also lacks the prettiness and coyness of typical paintings of young girls in the outdoors. Her guarded expression and carefully contrived stance suggest the stiffness of a posed photograph rather than a painting.
Who is this young girl? Why was she painted in this setting, where she seems somewhat ill at ease? Little is known about this work. The style of the painting, combined with the girl’s stilted pose, suggest a self-taught artist. It is signed ‘CM’ and dated 1882, yet a definite name cannot be attributed to the artist and still less to the girl. Was the portrait commissioned or produced for an exhibition context? Was it based on a photograph or studied from real life?
Colonial works of art reveal a great deal about the experience of living in New Zealand as it was transformed from a pioneering society to something more ‘civilised’. However, the discomfort embodied in both the expression and pose of the subject highlights the difficulties and paradoxes of colonial existence. She remains a young girl, not at home, but eternally lost in the bush.
Rebecca Rice
Text originally created for Tūrangawaewae: Art and New Zealand exhibition at Te Papa, March 2018.
An unknown girl, alone in the bush in her best dress.
The painting is signed ‘CM’, and dated 1882 – but no research has been able to uncover any trace of the girl’s identity, or the artist who painted her.
The girl is stiffly posed, as if frozen in a long photographic exposure, and her expression is stern. The painting may be based on a studio photograph – the style is naive, suggesting a self-taught artist.
He kōtiro ingoa-kore anake i roto i te ngahere me tana tino pūweru.
Kua tohua tēnei whakaahua ki ngā pū ‘CM” me te tau 1882 – ahakoa tērā, kāore he paku kōrero i kitea e pā ana ki te kōtiro, ki te ringatoi rānei.
E noho tōtika ana te kōtiro nei. He mea peita pea tēnei mai i tētahi whakaahua – he māmā te tāera a te ringatoi, nāna anō pea ia i whakaako.
This intriguing painting is signed ‘CM’ and dated 1882, but little else is known about it. The young girl’s stance suggests a stiffly posed photograph rather than a painting, indicating that the work may be that of a self-taught artist.
The girl’s ‘best dress’ mimics women’s fashions of the day, though with a shorter skirt. She, however, lacks the studied coyness that typifies portraits of girls at the time - her stern expression suggests a strong will.
The bush surroundings bring to mind those in Jane Campion’s The Piano (1993), a film set in New Zealand in the mid 1800s.