Cecil Kelly

Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1878, d.1954

The Heathcote Valley

This view is of the lower reaches of the Heathcote Valley, at the foot of the Port Hills just east of Christchurch. It was a favourite place for Cecil Kelly and one to which he often took his students on paintings trips. The work is an early example of the style of landscape painting developed by the group now known as the Canterbury School of regionalist painters. Their style involved the realistic treatment of forms, the tendency to simplify the small details of surface or texture and clear, sharp lighting. Born in Canterbury, Kelly studied at the Canterbury College School of Art and twice won the School's medal for painting from life. Kelly was appointed to the staff of the School of Art in 1907 and taught there until his retirement in 1944. Kelly began exhibiting at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Art in 1902 and went on to exhibit at the Royal Academy, the Royal Scottish Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists and the Paris Salon.

earlier labels about this work
  • Cecil Kelly was born in Canterbury and was an early student at the School of Fine Art. In 1880 he began a full-time teaching position at the school and , the same year, married the artist Annie Elizabeth Abbott. Together they played an important role in the development of Canterbury art.

    Heathcote Valley was painted in 1932 when Kelly was in mid-career and it is a good example of the style of landscape painting developed by the "Canterbury School" of regionalists painters. The realistic treatment of the forms, the tendency to simplify the small details of surface or texture and the clear, sharp lighting is typical of this group of artists. The scene is the Heathcote Valley which is at the foot of the Port Hills just east of Christchurch. It was a favourite locality for Kelly and one to which he often took his students on painting trips.

    Heathcote Valley was first exhibited in 1932 at the Canterbury Society of Arts' annual exhibition and was included in the National Centennail Exhibition of New Zealand Art in 1940.