HUZE, GUY (1912-1997)

“Tahitian.Dancers” (c.1940)
mixed media
cm
Signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Huzé was a respected French Modernist-of-the-Pacific. Trained at the Academie de Beaux Arts in Paris and member of the 'Association of the Humorist', Huzé found fame following several years living and painting in Tahiti, New Zealand & Australia. He was best known for capturing the beach lifestyle in all aspects, particularly the newly christened sport of surfing from the early 1930s. American critics dubbed him 'painter of the water' following a series of successful exhibitions in New York & San Francisco. He was particularly revered in New Zealand, and exhibited in Sydney through the David Jones Gallery. This interesting Modernist painting is amongst the earliest depictions of surfing in art, with the sport only becoming popular in the South Pacific 20 years earlier. Huzé is certainly the earliest exponent focussed primarily on the wonders of surfing and this is an incredible historical piece.