Charles Blomfield

Charles Blomfield  1848-1926

The White Terraces. Oil on Canvas. 1901

Charles Blomfield “The artist of the Terraces” (Conly, G 1985) was born in Holborn in London in 1848 and in 1862 he immigrated with his family to New Zealand. He left London on a ship called the Gertrude and arrived five months later in Auckland where he and his family settled.

Initially Charles found employment as a house painter and interior decorator and was taught the techniques of the trade, including the mixing of paint for decorative purposes. He developed his own business to specialize in this work and had success in the field and he had no other formal art training.

Auckland was soon to be enveloped by economic depression and unemployment and Charles’ parents moved the family to Thames. It was here that Charles found employment in the building trade as many people were attracted to the area, (including William Crawford), to hunt for gold and the demand for housing was high (Williams M. 2010).

It was in the Thames surroundings that Blomfield became so attracted to painting native bush and local scenery. Regardless of his lack of formal art training he soon realized his own talent and quickly advanced his technique, mastering landscape painting. He started to travel seeking scenery from which to compose works and he painted ‘plein air’, literally sketching and using oil paints on canvas in the open at the site of interest (this version of White Terraces however is a studio work due to its date of 1901). He carried all his painting equipment with him and this activity became his passion.

When he returned to Auckland and he married Ellen Wild in a Baptist chapel in Wellesley Street in 1874 and they set up home in Ponsonby, where they raised seven children. While Ellen remained at home raising the children he continued to travel the country on painting expeditions (Williams M. 2010) The most usual way to travel to the Pink and White Terraces was from Auckland by steamers of the Union Steam Ship Co. to Tauranga, and then by horse drawn stage-coach between Tauranga and Rotorua via Maketu (Conly, G 1985) The lakes in the Rotorua and Tarawera region became fascinating to Blomfield and paintings of Rotomahama and the Pink and White Terraces were to become his trademark works.

According to his grand-daughter the writer Muriel Williams, 

“Blomfield continued to travel throughout New Zealand painting pictures of mountains, rivers, lakes and cloud effects, but his greatest love remained the native bush, of which he wrote enthusiastically in his diary. He had received some musical tuition on the voyage from England, and supported himself by working as a music teacher and singing inspector in schools, as well as by the sale of paintings.” (Williams,2010, para. 8)

On several of his expeditions he camped at Lake Rotomahana where he studied the Pink and White Terraces. Fascinated by the spectacle and their delicate beauty he made arrangements with local Tangata Whenua in 1884, to pay a considerable fee to enable him to spend approximately six weeks sketching and painting at the site (Williams M. 2010).

The eruption of Mount Tarawera took place early on the morning of 10 June 1886 and this is when the Pink and White Terraces were destroyed (Conly, G 1985).

Blomfield’s original oil paintings quickly became unique after the eruption of Mount Tarawera and Blomfield was devastated at the destruction of the Eighth Wonder the Pink and White Terraces. He refused to sell the oil paintings but he made many reproductions of them of which he sold many. The paintings became immensely collectable and valuable to him and to the collectors of the period as they are today.  It is for these works that he has become renowned and his studies of the Terraces have given insight to many generations since, their spectacular natural beauty.

This Charles Blomfield painting “The White Terraces” part of the Museum collection was the inspiration behind this exhibition and is on long term loan to the museum. Unlike William Crawford and Kennet Watkins, Blomfield did not have connections with Te Tairawhiti and did not live in the region at all.

Muriel Williams. 'Blomfield, Charles - Biography', from the Dictionary of New Zealand

Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10 
URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/2b28/1

Conly. G. (1985). Tarawera: The Destruction of the Pink and white Terraces. Wellington: Grantham House Publishing.

William Crawford

William Crawford.  1844 - 1915

William Crawford was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1844 and he immigrated to New Zealand arriving on 6 May 1864. Like Charles Blomfield, William Crawford also lived in Thames before settling in Gisborne and was a storekeeper during the gold-rush era in the town. It was the brewery business that brought him to Gisborne to live and he soon became the owner of it. He was also elected as the first Mayor of Gisborne in 1877.

A scientific and technical man and a great adventurer, his fascination as a documentary photographer became his occupation. He is renowned for his early images of Gisborne, which have given historical insight to the development of the times. He did however venture further afield as he had always loved the bush and tramping in the wilds and had travelled extensively throughout the country. On at least two of his expeditions he visited the lakes district, Rotomahama and The Pink and White Terraces and the first visit was quite close to the eruption.  Soon after the event he returned to record the after effects of the devastating event. Quite clearly we are able to see not only how he travelled but the immensity of the destruction of the previously romantic and iconic scenery now ironically changed.

This wonderful series of reproductions of his original photographs clearly sets the scene of the before and after images of the Tarawera Eruption of 1886. Previously to this period his works were taken by the cumbersome wet-plate process, whereby the photographer virtually travelled with his darkroom producing beautifully clear images. Crawford later also worked with a half-plate camera, using the new dry-plate process. But in 1884 he bought a 10 inch by 8 inch camera which he used extensively over the next 12 years (Robinson, 2010).

The Burton Brothers of Dunedin also photographed the Terraces as did several other well-known artists and photographers of the time. Thanks to William Crawford Gisborne has its own special record of The Pink and White Terraces before and after the fateful eruption as can be seen in the images here.

Sheila Robinson. 'Crawford, William Fitzgerald - Biography', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10 
URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/2c37/1

Kennett Watkins

Kennett Watkins 1847–1933

Kennett Watkins was born in India and he emigrated from Europe in 1873. He had formal art training in France and Switzerland. Initially he made his living in New Zealand as a photographer but also as an art teacher. He was Principal of the Auckland Free School of Art 1879–96 and taught at both Auckland Grammar School and Auckland Girls Grammar School from 1882 to 1914 respectively.

Watkins is most well-known for his representation of the Waka Wairua that was sighted on Lake Rotomahama a few days before the eruption of Mt. Tarawera. The sighting was considered a premonition of an impending natural extreme phenomenon or catastrophe by local Tangata Whenua. Earthquakes leading up to the eruption and the fluctuation of lake levels were also precursory and observed by many but all warnings were ignored.

Guide Sophia Hinerangi, renowned for her knowledge and experience of the lakes and their terrain regularly guided visitors to the Pink and White Terraces by boat. On the day of the sighting of the Waka Wairua she and her passengers both Maori and Pakeha wrote about the sighting that day and it is well documented.

Kennetts painting “The Phantom Canoe on Lake Tarawera” can be found at the Auckland City Art Gallery. It is a spectacular rendition of the eerie scene where the sighting of the waka is observed at night approaching the towering Mount Tarawera which is enveloped by cloud and moonlight. The moon is rising above the cone of the mountain as if itself a sign of impending doom and the whole scene is enveloped by dark turbulent waters. It is a spectacular scene an apparition and the warriors on board the Waka Wairua were said to have the heads of dogs, they appeared as three and then up to thirteen and then to few before returning to the depths of the lake.

These beautiful and expressive watercolours of Watkins are a delight in their soft brush work and soft gentle colours. What better way is there to depict soft light and steam than to paint with watercolour as Watkins has done and like Blomfield, Watkins would have almost certainly painted these works ‘plein air’ from observation on one of his expeditions to the lakes and Terraces.

Watkins best known for this work came to live in Ruatoria for several years to be close to his son and family and this is why the Museum has this spectacular series of watercolours of Lake Rotomahana and The Pink and White Terraces. He painted the works between 1873 and 1876 and they were gifted or donated to the Museum.

http://ehive.com/account/3435/object/2822/The_Phantom canoe a_legend_of_Lake_Tarawera

http://www.art-newzealand.com/Issues11to20/books1401.htm

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-PlaNine-t1-body-d1-d1254.html

Eighth Wonder Curator Rowan Belcher

‘Wonder’ art has many tales to tell

Thursday, October 04, 2012 • Kristine Walsh

ARTS - AS an English ex-pat, Rowan Belcher understands the desire to travel halfway around the world in search of adventure.

He did it himself when he 30 years ago moved to New Zealand to immerse himself in the Wellington art scene, making his way to Gisborne in the mid-1990s.

So he understands why, despite the restrictions of the travel of old, adven-turers of more than 120 years ago would make their way to New Zealand to view the magnificent Pink and White Terraces.

Or they did, until 1886 when the eruption of the volcanic Mount Tarawera blew up what was considered to be the Eighth Wonder of the World, at the same time burying nearby Maori villages and killing somewhere between 120 and 160 people (that’s still up for debate).

“Coming to New Zealand from elsewhere myself, I found the idea of all these people coming on a mission to see this wonder to be absolutely fascinating,” says artist/educator Belcher. “I got to wondering why they came here and what experiences they had along the way.”

But Belcher admits that, before he got to thinking about such things, it was a pretty painting that first seduced him into curating an exhibition that focused on the long-lamented Terraces.

Invited by former Tairawhiti Museum director David Butts to curate a small show based on the museum’s in-house collection, Belcher was rummaging around in the “vault” when his eye was caught by a huge, gleaming, gilded frame.

In it, he found, was a magnificent painting of the Terraces by revered Auck-land artist Charles Blomfield (1848–1926), loaned to the collection by a local family.

“It really got my attention so I decided to look into Blomfield’s work and his experiences,” Belcher said. “That evolved into research around the eruption itself, which was fascinating.”

Blomfield’s work based on the Terraces is well documented — somewhat obsessed with the landform, he painted it both before and after the eruption, paying local Maori for the privilege and often camping for weeks in the surrounding bush.

With good examples of the English-born artist’s work these days fetching around $200,000 Belcher knew he had stumbled across an extraordinary work, but there was more to come.

His research also revealed that though former Mayor of Gisborne William Crawford (1844-1914) was renowned for photographing his home region, he also took a number of spectacular shots of the Terraces.

There was another find in a series of works by Auckland artist Kennett Watkins (1847-1933).

Tairawhiti Museum does not have Watkins’ most famous work . . . The Phan-tom Canoe: A Legend of Lake Tarawera is in the possession of Auckland Art Gallery. It does, however, have in its collection half a dozen of the artist’s Terraces water-colours, perhaps gifted to mark the 15 years he spent living in Ruatoria district to be close to a son farming there.

Belcher shows most of those works, along with Blomfield’s painting and about a dozen of Crawford’s photographs.

And though choosing them proved to be an interesting exercise for an arts professional who plans to expand into curation, their selection also proved to be an emotional process.

“Sometimes it is the skill of an artist that stops you in your tracks, but often it is the stories behind the works and there were certainly plenty of those,” he said.

“Blomfield, for example, was so affected by the eruption that he would never part with any of his original paintings . . . he’d only sell reproductions; in Crawford’s work you really get that sense of loss; and Watkins was also clearly affected by what he saw.”

The aspect of the show he enjoyed most, he added, was the combination of paintings and photographic prints.

“The paintings bring in that atmosphere and the sense of romantic beauty that an artist can bring to a work. But Crawford’s photographs allow us to also see exactly how the Terraces looked and that is a unique opportunity.”

Eighth Wonder

an exhibition curated by Rowan Belcher

Tairawhiti Museum

Gisborne

The White Terraces. Charles Blomfield


The Terraces and Rotomahama. Kennett Watkins