B.
Alan Pearson Huia Couple – Linda and Leo 1978–9. Oil on board. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 1981
Alan Pearson, 1929–2019
Note
Christchurch Art Gallery was saddened to hear of the recent death of Alan Pearson. Originally from Liverpool in England, Pearson moved to Aotearoa New Zealand as a young man in 1956 and studied at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts. Totally committed to his practice, and never one to shy away from confrontation, he painted full-time from 1978 and exhibited extensively throughout New Zealand. He lived and worked mainly in Ōtautahi Christchurch before moving to Australia in the early 2000s.
Pearson was known for landscapes, expressive abstract works and, especially, his psychologically charged portraits. “Given the opportunity to study someone, I look for the moment behind the public mask,” he once said. “That moment relates to time, and its revelation, if it comes at all, will come in small fractures of time, like an unconscious moment, a turn or tilt of the head, a brief lifting of the mask that conceals their ‘innermost’ selves from view.” The subjects of Pearson’s portraits were his family, close friends, fellow artists and – notably – himself, encapsulating a wide range of moods and ages. The Gallery held a major retrospective of Pearson’s work, Heaven and Blood, in 1999.
You can view all the works by Pearson from the Gallery's collection here.
Related
Collection
Alan Pearson Self Portrait
This self portrait, one of several painted by Pearson throughout his career, reflects the artist's interest in the individual and in humanity. By responding intellectually and emotionally to his subject, in this case himself, he evokes a very strong sense of character and spirit. Having once described portraiture as, "a dialogue the asking and showing of who we are", Pearson confronts the viewer with a watchful and challenging gaze. Reflecting his awareness of New Zealand art traditions and his identification with the environment, he depicts himself within a distinctively New Zealand landscape. The characteristically fluid and expressive brushstrokes tend towards abstraction as the freshness of the paint and colour create a portrait which is emotionally charged and alive with energy.
Collection
Alan Pearson Portrait of Carl Sydow, 1972
Carl Sydow (1940-1975) was a prominent sculptor active in Christchurch from the mid-1960s to his untimely death in 1975. This portrait was painted for a Canterbury Society of Arts exhibition in 1973 where artists drew in a ballot the name of another artist whose portrait they would paint. Alan Pearson painted Sydow and Sydow made a photo x-ray portrait of Pearson's head. Pearson said that he went into portraiture to see if he "measured up to the historical process of art … (and) the more certain I became, the more Expressionistic I became." Pearson was born in Liverpool but came to New Zealand in 1954. He graduated from the University of Canterbury in 1961 and went on to study at the Royal Academy Schools, London, during 1965 and 1966, following the award of an Arts Council Scholarship. Pearson has painted full-time since 1978, the year in which he won the National Bank Portrait Prize. He is represented in most New Zealand public collections.
Collection
Alan Pearson Huia Couple - Linda and Leo
Linda and Leo lived at Huia Bay at the head of Manukau Harbour in West Auckland and in this large double portrait Alan Pearson has responded both to their lifestyle and to the semi-tropical character of the region’s landscape.
The portrait is typical of Pearson’s vibrant and expressive style. He celebrates the exuberant fertility of the vegetation, echoed in Linda’s pregnancy, through his rich use of green.
Pearson was born in Liverpool and came to New Zealand in 1954. He graduated from the University of Canterbury in 1961 and went on to study at the Royal Academy Schools, London, during 1965 and 1966, following the award of an Arts Council Scholarship. Pearson is represented in most New Zealand public collections.
Collection
Alan Pearson Self-portrait
At the time he painted this self-portrait, Alan Pearson had recently moved to Christchurch from Auckland and his first marriage had broken up. There is a hectic energy and sense of mortality to the work that reflect his interest in the human struggle with identity. Pearson has painted numerous self-portraits, this early work reveals an intense style which was a new departure for him at the time. During this period he also painted similarly vivid landscapes. The rich colours in the portrait suggests the expressionist style and use of colour of the Russian artist Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944). Pearson was born in Liverpool and arrived in New Zealand in 1956. He studied at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts and in the mid-1960s studied at the Royal Academy Schools, London, on a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council Scholarship. Pearson has painted full-time since 1978 and has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally. Over the last three decades he has made several extended working visits to Britain, Europe and Australia. He currently lives and works in the Gold Coast of Australia.