B.
Smith's Bookshop
Behind the scenes
Julian Dashper's drawing/collage Blue Cross at Smith's Bookshop captures something of the friendly chaos that welcomed visitors as they stepped off the footpath of Manchester street and into one of Christchurch's most well-known and best-loved bookstores.
Smith's Bookshop is where Julian showed The Anguses, a site specific big beat drum kit tribute to Rita Angus in 1992. The work was to later become part of the Big Bang Theory, now in the Chartwell Collection. It was the first artwork I had seen by Julian and, as a drummer, I was completely won over.
In 2007 I was lucky enough to revisit Smith's Bookshop with Julian when we spent an afternoon visiting Christchurch galleries. My most treasured purchase from Smith's is not some rare second-hand first-edition but rather a brand new copy of Julian's Big Bang Theory catalogue, which he kindly signed for me back in 1992.
Julian Dashper Blue Cross At Smith's Bookshop 1987. Mixed media. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 1992. Reproduced with permission
Related
Collection
Evelyn Page The Old Bookshop, Christchurch
As a student, Evelyn Polson lived in the suburb of Sydenham and would have passed seven bookshops walking along Colombo Street to the School of Art. She recalled in an interview: “I used to browse in an old bookshop - second-hand - smelling of musty books.” It is likely this was McCormack’s secondhand bookshop on the corner of Hazeldean Road. The interior view is accurately observed and faithfully recorded, reflecting Page’s training at the Canterbury College School of Art. Page (née Polson) was born in Christchurch and studied at the Canterbury College School of Art. A working member of the Canterbury Society of Arts, in 1927 she also joined other young Canterbury artists in The Group, formed to give artists greater control over showing their work. Page spent a year in Britain in 1937 and on her return married composer Frederick Page. In 1947 they moved to Wellington. In 1966, while travelling on a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council Grant, Page attended the Kokoschka school at Salzburg.
