WIMPERIS, JENNY (1844-1929)

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"The Great Cliff, Purakanui" (1888)
Watercolour & bodycolour
68 x 126cm
Signed lower right
*exhibited at Centennial International Exhibition, Melbourne, 1888
*exhibited at New Zealand & South Seas Exhibition, Dunedin, 1889
*private collection, Sydney
 
Wimperis was a pioneering British-born, New Zealand Colonial painter. Born into a family of artists, Wimperis studied art in Antwerp & Hanover and exhibited in London with the Royal Society of British Artists between 1868 & 1875. Wimperis emigrated to New Zealand in 1880 and joined the newly formed Otago Art Society and exhibited there. She also joined the Art Club, a small group of artists who met in private homes to discuss art and paint together. The leader of the Art Club was solicitor William Hodgkins and in 1892 Wimperis gave Hodgkins' daughter, Frances, private art lessons. Frances Hodgkins went on to become one of New Zealand's most influential and highly regarded painters. In 1895 Wimperis also joined a painters' group led by visiting Italian artist Girolamo Nerli, called the Easel Club. Wimperis specialised in landscapes, the New Zealand bush and boats. Her paintings of the New Zealand bush have been noted for their unromanticised, raw views. She also painted a number of scenes in and around Dunedin. Her is held in the Christchurch Art Gallery collection, the Hocken Library and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. This incredible, large, raw landscape was exhibited the huge Centennial International Exhibition in Melbourne in the newly constructed Royal Exhibition Building in 1888 (under the title "Purakaniu" (No.209) and the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, Dunedin, 1889-1890 (under the title "The Great Cliff, Purakanui" (No.70).