Whangarei-born Artist Dies In Tunisia

Northern Advocate, 27 April 1944, Page 6

Whangarei-born Artist Dies In Tunisia

With the death at Beja, Tunisia, of Madame Rene Vernon, . known in earlier years as Beatrix Dobie, a New Zealand painter oi horses and landscapes, a varied career of unusual interest, has been concluded.

Born in Whangarei in 1887, she was n daughter of the late Mr H. B. Dobie. who for a period was stationmaster of the Whangarei railway station and the donor of the reserve known as Debbies’ Fark, to the 'Whangarei Borough Council. Some years before the last war, Madame Vernon went to London, studying there under a number of notable painters. In 1914 she joined the British Red Cross and did hospital service at Malta and elsewhere, J>ut later was transferred to the New Zealand canteen at Codford, England.

After marrying Captain Rene Vernon. of the French Army, while she was painting in Europe, she made her home in Tunisia. From there she sent pictures to exhibitions at London and elsewhere. including the Empire Exhibition of 1937. It was typical oi her spirit that when fighting raged round her home at Beja, 60 miles from Bizerta. she declined to leave. She kept open house to Allied servicemen including New Zealanders. Shortly before the war she visited friends in Whangarei.

Examples of Madame Vernon's work are in the Auckland Art Gallery and at Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. She is survived by her husband and a son. Her mother and a number of relatives reside in Auckland.