John Gibb
Scotland / Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1831, d.1909
Flood in the Otira Gorge
- 1895
- Oil on canvas
- Betsy Oamara Pearce bequest, 2005
- 800 x 700mm
- 2005/036
- View on google maps
Tags: floods (natural events), fog, landscapes (representations), mountains, natural landscapes, rivers, valleys (landforms)
About the artist
John Gibb in his studio
The Weekly Press, 12 December 1900, p. 62
Image supplied by Christchurch City Libraries (CCL-PhotoCD07-IMG0022)
Artist John Gibb emigrated from Scotland and settled in Christchurch in 1876, and was soon recognised as the area’s leading artist. Gibb painted in the academic style, favouring the early morning and evening light when the sun is low and the landscape is bathed for a moment in a luminous glow. Ōtira’s mountains break majestically through low cloud, as light leads the eye down to the wild, raging river below. A horse-drawn coach seems minuscule compared to the sheer force of nature as presented by Gibb.
(Endless Light, 29 June 2019 – 8 March 2020)