Untitled [seascape]

According to his obituaries the itinerant artist, E. W. Christmas travelled about 200,000 miles in the course of his career, ‘his search for the picturesque [taking] him to many out-of-the-way places hitherto unvisited by painters’.(1) Born in 1863 in South Australia to English parents, there is little evidence of Christmas received little formal artistic training, but by the 1890s he was well established as an artist, specialising in landscapes. He painted in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Europe, and North and South America. He produced his own work for exhibition and sale, but also undertook commissions for governments and businesses, acted as agent for galleries building collections, and selected works for centres mounting large-scale exhibitions.(2) Christmas first visited New Zealand in 1895, exhibiting 11 works at several venues in Auckland, and disposing of them by art union, before embarking on a sketching tour of the country.(3) He stayed for over two years, showing his work throughout the country from Napier, to Gore, before departing in May 1897, stopping in Australia before travelling further abroad to Europe. There he spent time studying, but was also engaged securing works for major exhibitions, including the Australian Federal and International Exhibition held in Melbourne in 1902. Christmas returned to New Zealand in 1905. Again, he travelled the country, holding exhibitions and sales wherever he went, as well as participating in local art society exhibitions. He contributed to the New Zealand International Exhibition at Christchurch in 1906-7, exhibiting works in the New Zealand art display through the Wellington Academy of Fine Arts, as well as a group of paintings he’d been commissioned to produce by the Tourist Department. This set of views comprised a ‘series of farming views, from the bush-clearing and “burning off” stages to the comfortable day of the prosperous farmstead and the “cattle on a thousand hills”’ and were shown in the Tourist Department Court.(4) Christmas then, although itinerant, was a notable presence in the New Zealand art scene on each of his visits. But in spite of his best efforts, only one painting was acquired for a gallery collection during his time here. Dunedin Art Gallery acquired Mount Cook from Governor’s Bush in 1907 as a donation from William Dawson (2-1907). He does not feature in New Zealand art histories, and has received little or no critical attention, yet his enthusiasm and contributions to the art scene during his time here warrants consideration. This sescape view offers a study in mood, capturing the light and atmosphere of an early morning or evening glow. Rebecca Rice Curator Historical New Zealand Art, 2021 1. ‘Paintings by E. W. Christmas, R.B.A’, The Argus, 14 July 1910, p. 7 2. A website dedicated to the recovery of information about E. W. Christmas was established in 2005. This offers the most comprehensive account of the artist and his life, supported by knowledge gleaned largely from newspaper references. See www.ernestwilliamchristmas.com, accessed 2 September 2021. 3. See ‘Local and general news’, New Zealand Herald, 5 March 1895, p. 4 and Advertisements, New Zealand Herald, 23 March 1895, p. 6. 4. James Cowan, Official Record of the New Zealand International Exhibition of Arts and Industries, Held at Christchurch, 1906-7: A Descriptive and Historical Account. Wellington: Government Printer, 1910, p. 142