Ode to Autumn

Auckland artist A. Lois White pioneered the use of the female form, frequently the nude, for its allegorical potential across a range of narrative, decorative, and political scenes. During World War II, she created works centred around themes of pleasure and abundance. Many of her paintings show groups of women in graceful compositions, such as Pattern inspired by rain, 1941, which idealise leisure and feminine allure. White’s women dance, perform scenes from literature, pose for admiration, or serve merely as decoration. White was also a keen portraitist, often recruiting family members and students to sit for her. The model for her major wartime painting Ode to Autumn, 1945, was White’s Elam colleague Mona Malcolm (1913-1996), who worked in the sculpture department. In the work, inspired by John Keats’ poem ‘To Autumn’, White surrounds a female figure with a cornucopia of fruit, flowers, and wheat. Ode to Autumn was exhibited at the Auckland Society of Arts annual show in 1945 where it was praised by a reviewer for ‘the excellent draughtsmanship, rich colour sense and highly organised design.’ Autumn is a season of harvest and White’s painting may be a broader comment on the anticipated end of World War II as a time of reckoning – of harvesting the dealing with the results of war.

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