B.

Providing a new platform from which we can consider her place in the art history of New Zealand, this touring exhibition of 40 works by Lois White, the 'Auckland Symbolist' of the 1940s and 50s, is drawn from a wide range of public and private collections.

A figure painter, social commentator, portraitist and creator of sumptuously decorative allegories, Lois White was born at Mt Albert in 1903. Entering the Elam School of Fine Art in 1923, she studied under A. J. C. Fisher, the Director of the school, who stressed the development of drawing skills and had his students spend long hours in the life class. They then progressed to tonal painting and finally to very carefully worked out figure compositions. These remained the hallmark of Lois White's later work. She became Fisher's star pupil and joined the Elam staff in 1927 remaining there until her retirement in 1963.

Influenced by Thomas Hart Breton and the American Regionalists of the 1930s, Lois White simplified her forms, developed strong rhythms within the landscape and figure works, and frequently set the features within a stage-like tableau. To this, however, she also added the stylistic influences of Symbolism and Art Deco and an earnestness of message which dominated her political allegories.

Responding to the events of World War II Lois White symbolised and generalised the experiences in a unique way, creating her own charged images of what the war meant to a civilian population.

Her stylised portraits, the compositions based around groups of women at leisure and her Biblical fantasies were also distinctive features of her work.

Lois White's devotion to narrative and to figurative styles put her in opposition to the dominant New Zealand tradition of landscape painting and to the evolving modernist school of abstraction led by McCahon and Mrkusich. This gradually alienated her from her peers and her themes on gender, religion or politics were often ignored during her life.

This touring exhibition gives visitors a timely opportunity to revisit Lois White's works. They will undoubtedly appeal to a wide public and especially to those who lived through the 19305 and 405. Younger viewers of the 19905, will be captivated by her luscious colours and distinctive figurative Style. This exhibition has been curated and organised by the Auckland City Art Gallery, sponsored by Ernst & Young and toured nationally by Exhibitour New Zealand. A show not to be missed.

('By the Waters of Babylon: The Art of A. Lois White', Bulletin, No.95, April/May 1995, p.1)