Hollyford Valley

Christopher Aubrey has been described as ‘“the most mysterious” of colonial artists in New Zealand.’ Little is known of the artist’s life. We don’t know exactly where or when he was born, and very few home addresses survive. What little is known paints the picture of an itinerant artist. It is likely that Aubrey relied on a remittance sent to him from family, and spent much of his time travelling through the countryside, painting and selling his watercolours to supplement his income.

His known artworks are dated between 1876-1906. He was active in England, where he is thought to have done architectural work, Australia and New Zealand, but seldom exhibited his paintings. He was included in the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880-1881 where he showed two works, a watercolour titled Oyster Fisheries, and a neutral tint drawing called Mouth of the Waiau. 

It seems Aubrey was based in Dunedin on several occasions, as well as Invercargill, though the subject matter of his work spans the entire country. He worked mostly in watercolour, and painted landscapes that range from the picturesque to the everyday, detailing country hotels, freezing works and the battery building of a goldmining company amongst other scenes. Aubrey had a pragmatic approach to depicting buildings and infrastructure, possibly informed by his experience in architectural work. This architectural knowledge seems to be an influence on Aubrey’s style more generally, with people and structures mapped precisely into his compositions. His works of early settlement in Wellington and Wairarapa in particular, show clearly delineated streets and houses erected amongst the increasingly cultivated landscape.

Hollyford Valley, painted in 1888, is one of Aubrey’s more picturesque compositions, showing the Hollyford River winding its way from the snow-covered mountains in the distance through the Fiordland valley. Like many of his works, Hollyford Valley has a level of detail more typically associated with photography. It shows the artist’s unique approach to painting with crisp lighting, a clear atmosphere and exaggerated forms. While the trees and shrubs in the foreground are carefully rendered, his mountains rise vertiginously from the valley, with steep inclines, sharp points, and almost concave sides.  This representation seems to reflect the artist’s awe in the face of New Zealand’s alpine landscape.

This approach to painting is also reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelites, which may have been an influence for Aubrey, with the sharp focus across the whole composition, and the use of luminous, almost incandescent colour. In this light, we could read Hollyford Valley as having a reverent and moralizing subtext, as was often the intention of the Pre-Raphaelites. It reflects a view of the New Zealand landscape that highlights its perceived noble and pure nature.

One of the few newspaper reviews of Aubrey’s work from the time describes his paintings as ‘finished in a style to attract attention, and are very true,’ articulating the unique mix of accuracy and stylistic agency Aubrey brought to his work.

Aubrey was one of several peripatetic artists active in the colonial period, who were able to work and travel, paying their way with their paintings as they went. His lifestyle, subject matter, and method of working are representative of a period in New Zealand’s history, where the job of an artist could also entail exploring the land, and capturing their journeys through the fresh lens of artist as pioneer. 

This work is included in the exhibition Hiahia Whenua: Landscape and Desire, running from 2022-2024.

References
Christopher Aubrey, Art Object File, Te Papa.
New Zealand Court: International Exhibition, Melbourne 1880, catalogue of exhibits. (1880). Melbourne: printed for the New Zealand commissioners, by Mason, Firth & McCutcheon.
‘Turnbull prints feature ‘mystery man’ of N.Z. art,’ Press, 18 December 1979, pg. 28.
‘Untitled,’ Bruce Herald, 26 February 1878, pg. 5.

Rona Chapman, VUW intern, 2022