Maori Painter Has Grant To Work At Vence

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29800, 17 April 1962, Page 21

Maori Painter Has Grant To Work At Vence

[By the London Correspondent of “Th': Press’’]

The Maori painter, Ralph Hutere, of Auckland, who came to London last September with the New Zealand Art Fellowship, will leave on April 26 for Vence, in the south of French, with an award granted under the Michael Karolyi Memorial Foundation scheme. This foundation established in 1959 an international centre for young writers and artists at Vence with the aim of bringing together the talent of different countries, races, and beliefs in order that they might exchange ideas and acquire knowledge and understanding of one another. The centre is situated on the outskirts of Vence, a small town 16 miles northwest of Nice, a thousand feet above sea-level and six miles from the sea. It is in the midst of expanding artistic and cultural activities: the Picasso Museum at Antibes, the Leger Museum at Biot, the Cocteau Chapel at Villefranche. the Renoir Museum at Cagnes-sur-Mer, and the Matisse Chapel in Vence. Residential awards under the foundation are keenly sought by writers and artists from various countries. During his six months in London, Mr Hotere has been studying at the Central School of Art, where he has

been doing mainly painting, with some graphic design. One of tile main purposes of the foundation is to ensure that the people chosen can carry on their work in a secluded and undisturbed atmosphere free from the pressures of urban life.

“I am delighted at the prospect,” Mr Hotere told me. “And I hope to do more painting in Vence than I have been able to do in London during the winter. I am thrilled at the thought of seeing some sun and sea.” London’s winter has been particularly testing, so testing in fact that this artist feels he would not wish to experience another like it. It is not entirely beyond the bounds of possibility that he will move to Spain at the end of his period in Vence. The foundation is open each year from May to October inclusive, and Mr Hotere has been accepted for the months of May, June, and July. Residents are lodged in isolated cottages on a pinecovered terraced hillside facing south-west 15 minutes’ walk from the town of Vence. Residents cater for themselves and do their own housework. Mr Hotere will be accompanied' by his wife, formerly Miss Betty Rameka, of Kaikohe.