PICTURES OF WAR

Evening Star, Issue 24917, 15 July 1943, Page 6

PICTURES OF WAR

OFFICIAL N.Z.E.F. ARTIST

CAPTAIN PETER KcIHTYRE RETURNS TO DUNEOIH

Among those who returned to Dunedin yesterday with members of the New Zealand Division on furlough from the Middle East is Captain Peter Mclntyre, the official war artist, whose paintings and sketches will not only remain as living and accurate records of the valiant deeds of our own men at war, but will also give shape to the spirit of a free people at war. Captain McTntyre is a Dunedin boy, son of a well-known New Zealand artist, another Peter McJntyre, who was'well and favourably known in Dunedin. He was educated at the Otago Boys' High School and Otago University, and went abroad to study •at the Slade School, London, and in Paris. With other young artists he opened a small exhibition in a hired London warehouse, his work attracted wide attention, and success foHowed quickly. He painted many famous people, and won a reputation in Fleet street as an illustrator.

Wide experience and travel before the war and then more than a year in the ranks gave • Captain Mclntyre an invalualble background for the important post of official artist, to which he was appointed in January, 1941. While ho was still a gunner in, an anti-tank battery, recruited'from New Zealanders in England l , he joined the N.Z.E.F. in the Middle East in April, 1940, sketching and painting in his spare time the activities of troops preparing for : battle in the Western Desert. His standing was already high when the Greek_ campaign gave him his first opportunity of picturing New Zealand troops in action. Pictures of tho war in Crete, of the Long Range Desert Group (with which Captain Mclntyr.e travelled 2,000. miles into almost virgin country), of' desert warfare, and of incidents "in the thrust into Tunisia followed from his pencil and brush. He has brought a collection of about 60 pictures with him, and hopes thoy will be shown throughout New Zealand. He hopes that Dunedin will be the first city to see the exhibition. Before the war Captain . Mclntyre had travelled widely in search for experience and material. He once worked with a French circus in Normandy and Brittany; he has painted in most of the great cities of Europe. "He has a rare ability to work quickly under difficult conditions," wrote R. T. Miller, one of the official war correspondents •of the N.Z.E.F. "He combines an almost photographic exactness of illustration with the charm of landscape paintings and portraits. The result is that his works are not only artistic in the sense of pleasing to the ej ; e, but also accurate and living records." Captain Mclntyre has painted about 100 official pictures and made, thousands of preliminary sketches during the time he has been official.war artist, and has travelled 15,000 miles by air alone, He found the work interesting and enjoyable, and, although he is a little weary after, the long campaign, he is anxious to get back to the job. His pictures have attracted wide interest wherever they have been shown.