Artwork Information

Born in Australia, A. W. Walsh came to Otago as a child and developed a passion for the outdoors which persisted throughout his life. He worked initially as a draughtsman, but took painting lessons at the Dunedin Art School and at the age of 27 was appointed to the staff of the Canterbury School of Art. He taught there for 24 years and holidays were invariably spent walking, camping and sketching. Much of his work was produced outdoors and a contemporary noted 'his brushes . . . darted here and there . . . putting in all those telling blobs of colour which went towards the making of one of his exquisite landscapes'. Other turn-of-the-century viewers apparently found his work impressionistic and 'not like nature'. But we are more likely to agree with the 1929 comments of John Cam Duncan: 'The only artist I call to mind as having successfully translated the beauty of our country into paint was the watercolour painter, A. W. Walsh. In his pictures one sees New Zealand depicted in all her subtle charm - the low-toned greens of her bush . . . the sparkling crispness of her sunshine and the deep mystery of her shadows - and realises that he has succeeded with a realism that was almost uncanny'. Walsh's solitary walker pauses for breath, stick in one hand, billy-can in the other, almost disappearing into shimmering scatters of light and shade. (from The Guide, 2001)