Postcard from an artist

This week's photo prompt shows a group of people painting by the waterfront. 

 We have sometimes come across people painting 'en plein air' and I thought I might possibly have had a photograph somewhere that showed them in the background, but it seems not, so instead I've included this postcard that I found a couple of years ago at a store that was selling antiques, bric-a-brac and curiosities. On the front is a pen sketch by Leonardo da Vinci entitled "Study of flowing water".The original of this work is part of The Royal Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

What I am more interested in is the writer's note on the back, because the author is the well-known Australian painter Clifton Pugh, 1924-1990, writing from London to his friend Marie back in Arthur's Creek, Victoria Australia. She was the widow of a prominent Australian writer but I won't identify her further as she may still be with us, as is Pugh's third wife Judith. 

10.9.76

"Hello, some good news - the painting 

of Prince Phillip is going well. I'm

 painting in the grand Reception room of Windsor Castle. I did a

 portrait of Judith in the gilded

 air, and when Phillip saw it,

 it was the one he wanted 

so Judith is now "in the possession

 of", along with two landscapes

 of mine that he has had 

for some time. 

Love from us,

 Clifton"

I can picture Clifton sitting there with his easel and painting equipment in those grand surroundings. He had previously painted portraits of many famous Australians. It appears that HRH Prince Phillip did not keep the painting, as it is now held in the art gallery of Benalla, a Victorian country town a couple of hours north of Melbourne. Unfortunately there's no image online, and Benalla is a bit too far for me to go check it out specially, although next time we're passing that way I may stop for a look, and perhaps if it is on view, I might offer the postcard to the gallery.

You can read an article written by Judith Pugh about Clifton here  on the Australian National Portrait Gallery web site.  The piece is illustrated by a painting of Judith in 1976, which may well be the one referred to as being 'in the gilded air' by Clifton in his postcard to Marie.  Another portrait included with the piece is that of the late Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt, with whom, according to Judith, Clifton was to have gone skin diving on the day that Holt mysteriously disappeared. Pugh had cancelled the arrangement because it was his birthday and a birthday lunch was planned. In a blog last year I wrote about the mysterious death of Harold Holt on 17 December 1967.  If Clifton had not cancelled, perhaps the tragedy that unfolded that day might not have occurred.

 I've written previously  about my uncle Graeme Morrison and my distant cousin John Petrie who were both artists, and have also made mention of my grandmother Mona Forbes who attended art school in Christchurch NZ. Another distant cousin Charlotte Petrie studied at the Slade School of Art on London in the 1920s.  Here is an article about Miss Petrie's impressions of the Slade School, published after her return to NZ. We have one of her paintings.

Sunset on the Estuary at Invercargill, by Charlotte Petrie

 Below is the only photo I can offer of anyone actually painting at an easel, or in this case a blackboard. It shows one of our young sons and was taken back in 1984. Unfortunately I can't tell you that he went on to show any inherited artistic talent, but I'm sure he enjoyed himself at the time!

For more blogs about artists at work or at play, visit Sepia Saturday #356

Postscript: Years ago I did a photography class at a centre where a life drawing class was taking place at the same time, and we had to walk around the artists to get to the darkroom. Unfortunately we were not permitted to photograph the artists and their models as we passed by. I expect it was the models rather than the artists who didn't want to be photographed.

Golden Tresses, Flowing locks

I've always admired people who were able to grow their hair long, but the lengths those Sutherland girls went to is just crazy!  In days gone by, most women and girls grew their hair long, but the great majority would have worn it at least partially tied up in a bun or plait of some kind. They probably spent many hours preparing their locks each morning before they were ready to be seen in public. I've picked out a few photographs from the big old family album of cartes de visites that was found hidden in my Aunty Pat's garage after she passed away in 2011. None of the subjects were named, but some cousins and I have since managed to identified a small number of them. The album containing the photos was a school prize awarded to Frederick Young, 1865-1962, a younger brother of my great grandmother Jane Isabella Young, 1860-1925.  Frederick and Jane were two of a total ten children born to Charles and Jane Young, who emigrated to NZ from Ballater Aberdeenshire in 1851 and settled in the district of Kaipoi, just north of Christchurch. 

These two photographs of young girls were both taken in Christchurch around the 1880s. I don't know who the subjects are, but they are very likely related to me in some way. It looks like the first girl has curly hair, unless of course it had been crimped to make it look that way. At least she seems to have it under reasonable control, which is more than I can say for my own curly hair at times. I much never managed to grow it much beyond shoulder length, as it tended to grow out rather than down.

The photograph below is of a young woman who clearly enjoyed putting some of her hair up in an elegant plait while still letting the bulk of her hair hang out. She must have gained quite a bit of height with that style! Again I don't know who she is, but  it's possible she could have been my great grandmother Jane Isabella, or one of her three surviving sisters at that time. I wonder if in fact it could be the same person in the above photograph, as they have a similar facial structure and general appearance. They are both wearing lockets but not of the same shape, and perhaps they were sisters or cousins.

I only have two photographs that I know to be definitely of Jane Isabella, both taken in her later years. In one she is nursing her first granddaughter Patricia, in whose garage the old album was found. Any opinions you may have on her likeness to the above photographs are most welcome.

               

The next photograph is of Jane Isabella's older sister Emily, with her husband John Andrews and five of their nine daughters, who are all shown in the second portrait with their father John. The younger girls are wearing their hair out, with bows in their hair, and there are even wicker chairs in both this and the next photograph (harking back to SS 228). Two girls are sitting on an s-shaped courting seat, clearly a studio prop. 

Emily and John Andrews were married in 1865 at the Young family home, when sister Jane Isabella was only five. In fact both Emily and her older sister Anne, who was married the same day, gave birth to their first children before their youngest brother Edward Young was born in 1868, so baby Edward was born an uncle! The Andrews family moved to live in New Plymouth on the North Island of New Zealand, where John's family resided. They had three sons in addition to their nine daughters but only one of them survived to adulthood. Their youngest child Elsie Euphemia was born in 1888, so this portrait must date from the late 1890s. Elsie was the only Andrews child to attend secondary school. She became a teacher and later a notable feminist and defender of women's rights in NZ. You can read about Elsie's interesting life story here.

 To my father's side of the family, and this young lady with flowing golden locks is Gladys Victoria Petrie, pictured here with her older brother Arnold.  Gladys and Arnold lived in Invercargill in the far south of New Zealand's South Island, and were first cousins of my grandfather Oliver Cruickshank. I've featured their mother Jessie Cruickshank, only sister of Oliver's father Charles, in a previous blog entitled Empty Chairs. Below is Gladys and Arnold's sister Charlotte Annie, who clearly also favoured long hair.

  

In 1925 Gladys and Charlotte travelled to England accompanied by their mother Jessie. Charlotte studied in London at the Slade School of Art while Gladys pursued a successful career as an opera singer in London and Paris.  Here's a publicity shot of Gladys, then with short hair, and an article about her achievements. She remained in Paris for over ten years before returning to NZ. Neither Gladys nor Charlotte ever married, they were too busy pusuing their careers. Gladys lived to the age of 91 and Charlotte made it to 100, as did her mother Jessie.

Extract from the Evening Post, Welliongton NZ, 30 May 1931, per Paperspast web site.

Glory days: the best I could manage,, c. 1972

To see more flowing  tresses, and anything else that this week's image may have prompted others to discuss, just click here for Sepia Saturday 230