EMOTIONAL LAUNCH FOR THE ART OF PETER SIDDELL

It is a very special book, written by an especially talented and hugely popular artist, and last night it was launched in specialist art bookshop, Parsons Bookshop Auckland, before a very large crowd of family, friends and admirers. Because both Peter Siddell and his artist wife Sylvia are frail and in poor health it was an emotionally charged event with many tissues in evidence.

After a welcome by bookseller Roger Parsons and publisher Nicola Legat the book was formally launched by Professor Michael Dunn, art historian and former head of the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland.
Professor Dunn has kindly made his notes available to me and his address follows:

It is an honour to have been asked by Peter and Sylvia to say a few words on this special occasion – the launch of this beautifully produced book entitled The Art of Peter Siddell. Now, for the first time, we can see reproductions of over 120 of his paintings gathered together. They give a good idea of his overall achievement as an artist. It looks truly outstanding and I am sure many people who know and love his works will treasure the book and many more who see it will be converted to his work.

My own acquaintance with Peter and his painting goes back to 1973 when I was writing art reviews for a Sunday paper. I went to Moller's Gallery in Upper Queen Street to see one of his first shows. I was impressed and gave it a favourable review with a reproduction. My main impression then was of truth and honesty – truth to what he knew and had experienced first hand and honesty in his way of painting. There were no gimmicks, just the desire to get his ideas across to his audience. Those qualities continued throughout his career and are a part of the secret of his popularity. It has helped make him an artist who is successful without being fashionable with the critics.

We are all familiar with his favorite subjects, the old houses of Auckland set in a landscape of volcanic cones with a backdrop of the Manukau or Waitemata harbours. But, Peter is not an architectural draughtsman even though his understanding of what he paints is thorough, nor is he a topographer. He feels free to change and rearrange his subjects. His is a personal and unique vision that is so persuasive that we now see our city through his eyes. For, although he has painted other places it is as a painter of Auckland that he will be remembered. And we need to reflect that his paintings include much more than the old wooden villas. He has painted state houses, grave yards with marble angels and also the modern city, the Sky Tower and high rises of the CBD. He gives to all these subjects the same formal order and visual beauty through the way he sees and paints them. Yet, his Auckland while familiar is not that of everyday experience. There are no cars, no people, no boats on the harbour and no Harbour Bridge. His is a contemplative vision of Auckland, edited and controlled by the artist, related to but separate from the one we live in.

Looking at the book there are surprises, one being the occasional element of humour in the works. In this context, I must mention his nude self-portrait Not Just a Pretty Face, of 1979. In a note to the plate he speaks of facing up to the sags and wrinkles of middle age. He depicts himself standing stark naked at work with palette and brushes to hand, but modestly, too, for the palette covers just the right part of his anatomy. He looks somewhat reflective, seemingly unaware that we didn't know he painted these well-loved scenes in the buff and led a secret life in his studio. Or was this a one off, a mid-age crisis of sorts.


Then there's that solitary painting of Wellington – a commission we find out from the then Governor General Dame Cath Tizard. What an enlightened act of patronage. It has the humorous title Toward the Bombay Hills – and alludes to the rivalry between the cities. In it Peter succeeds in making Wellington look like a suburb of Auckland by focusing on his typical old wooden houses in the foreground and setting the CBD in the distance so that landmarks like the BNZ tower are hard to make out. Perhaps the real reason for its surreal effect is the weather – the sky is blue, the sun shines and not a breath of wind disturbs sea or shore. We are puzzled. Can this really be our capital city, or a mirage.

Whatever your interests, I am sure you will find much to look at and reflect upon in this remarkable publication. Long overdue, it is a fitting tribute to the man and his work. At last by turning its pages you can follow his artistic journey and study at leisure works that were previously inaccessible. It is a pleasure to participate in its launch tonight.

Peter Siddell then replied in his typical modest and charming manner. Nicola Legat then invited others to speak if they wished and half a dozen did which added nicely to this special occasion.
Looking about the crowd I saw a host of luminaries from the art world including Terry Stringer, Don Binney, Claudia Pond Eyley, John Coley, Peter Simpson, Mary McIntyre, John Daly-Peoples, Mary McIntyre, Christopher Johnstone and Stanley Palmer, but I'm sure there were many others I missed.

Photos above in descending order:

Sir Peter Siddell and Dame Cath Tizard
Michael Dunn  and Nicola Legat
Stanley Palmer and Don Binney