B.
The art of war
Behind the scenes
The Great Art War is currently on at the Court Theatre
![Image](/media/cache/53/d3/53d3691ecaec5f79faaf8c98532c6da6.jpg)
It tells the story, in music, of the spat that developed in Christchurch in the early 1950s when, to cut a long story short, the Robert McDougall Art Gallery decided not to purchase a painting by Frances Hodgkins, but then had little choice in accepting it as a gift when a group of citizens had a whipround and just bought it anyway.
The painting is 'Pleasure Garden' and here it is:
The work seems so inoffensive to our jaded eyes, but at the time the dispute was cast as a titanic clash between the forces of revolution and reaction. In a gentle, Christchurchy sort of way, that is.
You can read more about the painting, read about Bill Sutton's painting 'Homage to Frances Hodgkins', see a sketch of that painting, and see who the contributors were.
And while I have your attention, can we just make it quite clear that the title of the work is 'Pleasure Garden'. Like Handel's 'Messiah' it has no definite article.
![Frances Hodgkins Pleasure Garden 1932 Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū; presented by a Group of Subscribers, 1951](/media/cache/c0/17/c0179a0e582c91f178bb58464020411a.jpg)
Frances Hodgkins Pleasure Garden 1932
Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū; presented by a Group of Subscribers, 1951