New Zealand art scene early 20th century .
It provides an insight into the colourful and vibrant art scene across the Tasman .
An early surprise in the 76 page ,illustrated publication, with advertisements for trade, fashion , art, jewellery and a British car, is a 1760 painted plate ,said to have belonged to Napoleon, offered by an importer of works of art .
One of the artists featured in the exhibition was much travelled Kiwi born William Francis Barraud , of Wellington .
He was the first of nine children of pharmacist and amateur artist Charles Decimus Barraud , of French Huguenot ancestry, which included many artists and craftsmen , who emigrated from England to New Zealand aboard the sailing ship Pilgrim in 1849 with his teacher wife , nee Sarah Maria Style, soon after they married .
The rough trip took such a toll on his wife's health that she was unable to walk. Their first accommodation in Wellington, provided through a relative, judge Henry Samuel Chapman, a lawyer, newspaper proprietor ,editor and philologist, consisted of a room 20 x 10 feet , divided into two, with a loft, where William Francis (Frank) was born .
Charles Decimus Barraud set up a business aptly called the Pill Box and other pharmacies over the years , painted extensively - landscapes and prominent Maoris some of the subjects - played a leading part in the art scene , the development of what became a national gallery .
His wife wrote many letters back home and entertained leading dignitaries and Maoris .
The l923 exhibition included works by John Macintosh Madden ,pictured below with a pipe , who had died that year , a master painter from London who had moved to New Zealand in 1877, he had taught art in Christchurch schools .
Although many of the 510 items on display were NZ subjects , Lucerne, Italy , Malta, Marseilles ,Oxford, Cornwall, a chair in Westminster Abbey ,Middlesex , San Francisco , Baghdad ,Rotenburg and morning in Hong Kong are some overseas locations .
Prices are mainly expressed in guineas and seem incredibly low , works by some of the artists in recent times selling for tens of thousands of dollars .
On the Yarra , Melbourne , Australian gum trees and Kookaburras catch the eye. The Yarra view is priced at two pounds and 10 shillings; wonder what it would bring today ?
One of the two guinea etchings in the exhibition is listed as being , A former Residence of Sir Harry Parkes, Sydney . Could it be Sir Henry Parkes, the so- called father of Australia's federation?
There is a full page advertisement for the Melba Fur Company and Norman Lindsay etchings are offered by a trader in antiques and articles of virtu.
The govenor -general was patron of the Auckland Society of Arts ; one of its vice-presidents the shipping reporter, newspaper owner and publisher ,Sir Henry Brett (1843-1927), wrote the two volume White Wings, the New Zealand shipping history.
In a country said to be more British than the British , what better way to advertise a car in the catalogue than the following ?
The catalogue contains an extensive list of the society's life, honorary and working members all over NZ.
