item details
NameHead of a girl
ProductionRaymond McIntyre; artist; circa 1922
Classificationoil paintings
Materialsoil paint, wood, panels
Materials Summaryoil on board
DimensionsImage: 332mm (width), 410mm (height)
Registration Number1968-0002-21
Credit lineGift of the estate of C Millan Thompson to mark the occasion of the retirement of the director, SB Maclennan, 1968.
Overview
In 1911, the London-based expatriate Raymond McIntyre wrote home to his father. ‘New Zealand sees England through glasses which are apt to distort’, he complained. ‘The unimportant things become the important there [in New Zealand], and the important unimportant.’
Frustrated by New Zealand’s limited art scene, McIntyre had left New Zealand to pursue a career in London, as had his contemporary Frederick Porter. Both became successful. Neither returned.
In this portrait, the influence of modernism is clear: McIntyre has placed as much importance on shape, texture, and expressive colour as on capturing the sitter’s likeness.