‘Exciting find’ now in gallery

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33539, 21 May 1974, Page 10

‘Exciting find’ now in gallery

The McDougall Art Gallery now has a von Tempsky Maori War painting. Its purchase for $2OOO was authorised by the Christchurch City Council last night. The director of the gallery (Mr B. D. Muir) said it was “a very exciting find,” made in a collection auctioned in London, The council’s parks, recreation and cultural committee was “delighted” with the acquisition, he added. Only about 12 or 13 of von Tempsky’s Maori War paintings are known in New Zealand and Australia, although he painted a considerable number. Towards the end of his career he had an art union for several of his paintings in Wellington. Efforts to trace them have been unsuccessful. There is one Maori War painting in the Australian National Library, Canberra. Others are in the Auckland Institute and Museum, and the Turnbull and Hocken Libraries. There is also one privately owned painting in Auckland. Prussian-born von Tempsky was a soldier of fortune who in New Zealand led a company of Forest Rangers who where bush fighters in many actions during the Maori Wars. The painting was bought in London last year for £l2OO —the price paid by the gallery—by Miss A. Boyle, of Christchurch, who brought

it with her when she returned to see her family this month. Miss Boyle said the painting was bought from a private collection built up by Dr Charles Fox, a New Zea-' land engineer who had Jived in London for 40 years. Dr Fox’s collection was sold in March of last year. Miss Boyle and her partner, Miss A. Williams, a graduate of the Canterbury University School of Fine Arts, obtained the painting then. Miss Boyle and Miss Williams run a small business, the South Sea Library, in London which deals in antiquarian books, maps, prints and paintings about Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. . Miss Boyle said the business was a part-time venture. But the catalogue now contains more than 400 items, dating from the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century. They hope that eventu-, ally much of this material' will find its way home to Australia and New Zealand., In addition to her joint | business enterprise with j Miss Williams, Miss Boyle is! in the picture postcard publishing business “in a modest way,” and is also publishing a book on Stonehenge which has been bought by the Department of the Environment to be sold on the site. “It really is aimed at the tourist. We are now preparing a second publication about Roman forts in Britain.” she said.