STONE, ALFRED (1914-)

“Still Life, Fiji” & "Harbour Scene, Fiji" (c.1945)
Oil on board
60 x 50m
Signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Stone was a respected Australian Modernist. Born in Mildura, he was raised in Melbourne by his mother, prolific artist, Alice Stone. He was a student of celebrated painter, teacher, and pioneering Tonalist, Max Meldrum, and shared a studio with his mother in Brighton. He relocated to Laucala Bay, Suva, to work in his primary profession, as a pharmacist for the British Phosphate Company. He soon began exhibiting with the Fiji Arts Club & Grand Pacific Hotel, and became a painting instructor at the Fine Arts Section, teaching over 20 pupils the principles of the Meldrum School. When William Dargie's portrait of Albert Namatjira was excluded from London's first 'official' exhibition of Modern Australian Painting, it perplexed Stone, who believed that "barriers should not be raised... Painting should be free and not divided into countries and cliques." Stone had been painting the indigenous population of Fiji in a series of landscapes and portraits for years, and presented these at the Fiji Art Club in 1953. This fascinating portrait was part of that exhibition.
 
"The portrait is of a gentleman named Karebau. He was employed by my grandfather & my mother's nanny on Ocean Island up until she turned 6. My grandfather was the GP on Ocean Island from 1945 to 1951 & worked for the same phosphorus mining company as Alfred Stone (who was the pharmacist). Mr Stone did the portrait for my grandparents on this beloved person. Karebau died of tuberculosis at an early age & we only have a couple of photos of him (one from his wedding day). Below is a photo of Karebau (left) & his friend Tiem. (Image 2)." - Jon Scull