Young N.Z. Artist Builds Reputation In United States

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26904, 16 October 1948, Page 8

Young N.Z. Artist Builds Reputation In United States

N.Z.P.A^—Copyright Rec. 8 p.m. NEW YORK, Oct. 14. Felix Kelly, a young New Zealand artist, is building a reputation for his paintings of some of the fine homes of America. His paintings of Cliveden House and other country seats of England brought him to the notice of wealthy Americans with estates in Baltimore, Wilmington and Barharbor. Kelly, who was with the Royal Air Force for five years, both in air crew and as a radar expert, served his architectural apprenticeship in Auckland, where his father was a civil engineer. The magazine, New Yorker, in its latest issue, prints a column and a-half interview with Kelly in its section, “ Talk of the Town.” The New Yorker described his houses as architecturally realistic but says his topography often reflects licence because he moves shrubs and trees about to suit his poetic fancy. Explaining this, Kelly said: “In England I sometimes had to invent foliage to conceal architectural excrescences, such as grandfathers’ wings and other additions in the Victorian manner. After the war, when historic places were run down, I had to sort of mow lawns with my brush.” Kelly told the New Yorker that in Amgrica, wives sometimes ask him to paint portraits of their houses as surprise gifts for their husbands. The magazine quotes Kelly as stating that he hated every minute of his architectural apprenticeship in New Zealand, where, he said, “They just put up buildings that could resist earthquakes.” Kelly told the New Yorker: “ Father was furious when I began to paint in England. He was afraid I would become a remittance man in reverse, but I made out all right and he ended up very pleasant. I feel it is important to make a record of great homes both here and in England before grim things happen to them." Kelly usually spends a few days around a house making sketches, and then does the actual painting in his Park avenue studio. He expects to remain in America for four months.