“Pohutukawa Tree," painted by Alfred Sharpe in 1876 and now in the Auckland City Art Gallery. The illustration comes from “Frames on the Land: Early Landscape Painting in New Zealand,” with 36 colour plates and text by Francis Pound (Collins, 1983, $39.95). Sharpe is one of 17 painters whose works are included in the book. In his admirable text, Pound notes that the dates of Sharpe’s birth and death remain unknown; he studied architecture in Britain and may have arrived in New Zealand about 1859. His work was first exhibited in Auckland in 1871 and he left for Newcastle, Australia, in 1887 where he was an architect at least until 1912. Sharpe was a deaf mute. He seemed to have a special love for pohutukawa trees. He wrote poems about the trees and imported the species into Australia. His loving attention to detail in this painting was greeted with some distaste by critics at the time. Pound’s book is a useful and well produced addition to the growing literature on early landscape artists at work in New Zealand, from William Hodges to Claus Edward Fristrom.
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Press, 22 October 1983, Page 18
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185“Pohutukawa Tree," painted by Alfred Sharpe in 1876 and now in the Auckland City Art Gallery. The illustration comes from “Frames on the Land: Early Landscape Painting in New Zealand,” with 36 colour plates and text by Francis Pound (Collins, 1983, $39.95). Sharpe is one of 17 painters whose works are included in the book. In his admirable text, Pound notes that the dates of Sharpe’s birth and death remain unknown; he studied architecture in Britain and may have arrived in New Zealand about 1859. His work was first exhibited in Auckland in 1871 and he left for Newcastle, Australia, in 1887 where he was an architect at least until 1912. Sharpe was a deaf mute. He seemed to have a special love for pohutukawa trees. He wrote poems about the trees and imported the species into Australia. His loving attention to detail in this painting was greeted with some distaste by critics at the time. Pound’s book is a useful and well produced addition to the growing literature on early landscape artists at work in New Zealand, from William Hodges to Claus Edward Fristrom. Press, 22 October 1983, Page 18
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