A Wilful Aesthetic

Early twentieth-century New Zealand has been described as a country that ‘could only offer so much’ to its talented and ambitious artists.¹ The obvious remedy for this predicament was overseas experience, mainly in Britain, where artists could undertake formal study and gain first-hand experience of the latest developments. Some who went, such as Frances Hodgkins and Raymond McIntyre, remained and established themselves in Britain, while others— among them Dorothy K. Richmond, A. H. O’Keeffe, Margaret Stoddart and Grace Joel—returned and furthered their careers in their New Zealand homeland.

As if to balance this cultural migration, a much smaller number of individuals from Britain have spent time in New Zealand and contributed to the development of the local art scene. Chief among them is Christopher Perkins, lured by the enlightened La Trobe Scheme. Designed to improve the standard of art education in New Zealand, it also brought Robert Nettleton Field and Frederick V. Ellis. But whereas the latter two settled here, Perkins stayed for a little over four years. He arrived in 1929 with a reasonably developed personal style and a determination to change the course of New