B.
International Beer Day!
Behind the scenes
I couldn't resist a selection of beer related art works from the Gallery's collection. My favourite is Hogarth's Bear drinking beer or is that beer drinking bear.
William Hogarth The Bruiser, C Churchill (once the Revd) in the Character of a Russian Hercules, Regaling himself after having Kill'd the Monster Caricatura that so Sorely Gall'd his Virtuous friend, the Heaven born Wilkes 1763. Engraving. Presented by Gordon H Brown, 1972.
William Sutton The Small Hours 1941. Linocut. Presented by the artist, 1983.
Frank Brangwyn The Beer Shop 1920. Etching. Purchased 1984.
Cornelius Bega Peasant Drinking From Tankard c.1650. Presented by Gordon H Brown, 1972.
Jan Steen Scene In A Tavern c.1672 oil on canvas. Presented by the Canterbury Society of Arts, 1932
Rita Angus Untitled (Hop Kilns, Motueka) 1941. Watercolour. Harry Courtney Archer estate, 2002
Gertrude Hermes The Harvest 1929. wood-engraving. Presented by Rex Nan Kivell, 1953.
Viola Paterson The Wine Shop c.1930. colour-woodcut. Presented by Rex Nan Kivell, 1953.
Related
Collection
William Hogarth The Bruiser, C. Churchill (once the Revd), in the Character of a Russian Hercules, Regaling himself after having Kill’d the Monster Caricatura that so Sorely Gall’d his Virtuous friend, the Heaven born Wilkes
Here’s some beastly behaviour: William Hogarth, a famous eighteenth-century British artist, trading insults with two gentlemen whom he had greatly upset. Hogarth had published an engraving attacking the journalist Charles Churchill and the politician John Wilkes, and another showing Wilkes being tried in court. Churchill, in return, published a vicious poem about Hogarth. He retaliated by making this print, picturing Churchill as a drunken bear, clutching a beer tankard and a club covered in ‘lyes’. The picture in the lower right-hand corner shows Hogarth whipping Churchill and Wilkes (as a performing bear and monkey) into line. Meanwhile, Hogarth’s pug passes judgement on Churchill’s poem.
(Beasts, 2015)
Collection
Rita Angus Untitled (Hop Kilns, Motueka)
At the start of 1941, Rita Angus, then a leading figure in Christchurch art circles, left the city for good. It was wartime. With many being directed into prescribed war effort work, she chose to take up employment for several months on a tobacco farm at Pangatotara, near Motueka in the Nelson district. There she worked alongside fellow pacifists, including artist Chrystabel Aitken and Courtney Archer, who owned this painting. Long days filled with demanding physical labour saw Angus harvesting and grading tobacco leaves and sometimes tending the drying kilns on the night shift. Travelling into Nelson on occasional weekends meant walking more than twelve kilometres to the nearest bus stop. Despite the demands of such a life, and shortages of art materials, Angus managed to find time to paint the local landscape, including this view of a hop kiln near Motueka. By April, she was able to report: “The harvest is over, and I am glad, as I am very, very weary of physical labour.”
(Beneath the ranges, 18 February – 23 October 2017)
