B.
The Valley of Darkness
Behind the scenes
In preparation for the Gallery's forthcoming exhibition and publication, Gallery photographer John Collie is busily photographing Petrus Van der Velden works.
The studio setup, with Van der Velden's West Coast Ranges (1893) on the easel. Photo: John Collie
John is photographing the works digitally and on film, with and without frames and under various lighting conditions. The results are then scrutinised to find the best images. From what I've seen so far they're going to look great on the page.
How do you capture the experience of standing in front of a painting in a photograph? The surface and texture of a work of art are often an integral part of the experience – the way the light reflects off heavy impasto brushstrokes, the depth suggested by the shapes of the layers of underpainting. But these can be tricky to catch in a photograph, and often they just don't ‘feel' right. Van der Velden's series of works depicting the Otira Valley are just such a challenge. Dark and turbulent, they contain oily dark areas of rich texture – often achieved by mixing bitumen in with the paints.
Checking the transparencies. Photo: John Collie
Related
Exhibition
Van der Velden: Otira
11 February – 22 February 2011
This exhibition brings together a comprehensive selection of Van der Velden's paintings portraying the wild, untouched natural beauty of the Otira region's mountainous landscape.
Collection
Petrus van der Velden Mountain Stream, Otira Gorge
The Rotterdam-born Petrus van der Velden arrived in New Zealand in 1890. Following his first visit to Otira Gorge in January 1891, he became engrossed with this subject, and painted its powerful, surging torrents many times over the next two years.
This painting was purchased by Gilbert Anderson, a leader in New Zealand’s frozen meat industry, also involved with the Canterbury Society of Arts. Anderson sold it to the Society in 1912; it was purchased from them in 1996 through the Community Trust and Christchurch Art Gallery Trust.
(Treasury: A Generous Legacy, 18 December 2015 – 27 November 2016)
Collection
![Burial in the Winter on the Island of Marken [The Dutch Funeral]](/media/cache/58/29/58295f2c69a43061863860a247424aba.jpg)
Petrus van der Velden Burial in the Winter on the Island of Marken [The Dutch Funeral]
Research for the exhibition Closer (16 December 2017 – 19 August 2018) resulted in the restoration of this work's orginal title. In Dutch 'Begrafenis in den winter op het eiland Marken' and in English 'Burial in the winter on the island of Marken'.
Combining a wintry landscape with an equally bleak portrayal of loss, this painting has captivated many visitors since joining the Gallery’s collection in 1932. Small details, like snow-dusted shoes, noses red with cold, and a woman folded over by grief, are observed with such accuracy and tenderness by Petrus van der Velden that this funeral procession on an isolated Dutch island feels just as real as it looks. However, its most important figure – the reason for the gathering and for all the grief we see – remains unseen. The deceased, said to have been a drowned local fisherman, is present only in the dark shape of the coffin – and in the faces of those left behind.
(Absence, May 2023)
Collection
Petrus van der Velden The Leuvehaven, Rotterdam
Petrus van der Velden turned to painting full-time in 1867 after six years as a struggling self-employed lithographer. “The first year was the hardest, and at the end I had done a picture; the harbour and the ships”, he later recalled. Exhibited in Rotterdam and then the Antwerp Salon, it sold to “an English gentleman … for 300 guilders [£25]. Quite a fortune!”
(Out of Time, 23 September 2023 – 28 April 2024)