Alan Robert Pearson (23 August 1929 – 2019) was a

neo-expressionist Neo-expressionism is a style of Late modernism, late modernist or early-Postmodern art, postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', ''Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wild ...

painter who lived in New Zealand and, in his later life, Australia.

Life and work

Pearson was born on 23 August 1929 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England, and moved to Australia in 1951 and then New Zealand in 1954. He studied at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts from 1957 to 1959, graduating with a Diploma of Fine Arts in 1960, and then lived most of his life in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, before moving to Australia in 2000. Pearson became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1979. Throughout his career, Pearson exhibited in public and private art galleries across New Zealand and Australia, including a retrospective, ''Heaven and Blood'', at

Christchurch Art Gallery The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, commonly known as the Christchurch Art Gallery, is the public art gallery of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It has its own substantial art collection and also presents a programme of New ...

in 1999. His work is held in private and public collections and he has been the subject of several publications. Pearson is known for his expressive and gestural paintings that encapsulate a passionate demeanour and love of music, landscape and people. Pearson painted portraits of many of his friends, family and colleagues. He also chronicled and immortalised himself in numerous self portraits, scrutinising the artist's psyche. In describing his relationship with his sitters, Pearson said in an interview in 2010:

"I'm looking into the inner person, talking with the individual and discovering a collection of inner thoughts which come together in their face."

Pearson died in

Noosa The Shire of Noosa () is a local government area about north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast district of South East Queensland, Australia. The shire covers an area of . It existed as a local government entity from 1910 until 2008, when it w ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia, in 2019.

Awards

* 1958 - Rosa Sawtell Prize for drawing * 1959 - Bickerton-Widdowson Scholarship * 1964 - Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand scholarship to study at Royal Academy Schools, London. * 1976 - Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand travel scholarship * 1978 - National Bank Portrait Award. 1st prize for Herne Bay Couple * 1979 - National Bank Portrait Award. 1st prize for Portrait of Mrs Oliver * 1986 - Artist in residence, Otago Polytechnic School of Fine Art, Dunedin Public Art Gallery. * 1989 - Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand travel grant to Australia. * 1993 - Artist in residence Tai Poutini Polytechnic, Greymouth (grant, Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand)

Collections

* Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru * Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington * Auckland City Art Gallery * Chartwell Collection, Auckland * Christchurch Art Gallery (formerly Robert McDougall Art Gallery) Christchurch * Dunedin Public Art Gallery * Forrester Gallery, Oamaru * Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin * James Wallace Trust * Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Cleveland, England * Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington * New Zealand Film Archive * New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Wellington * Suter Art Gallery, Nelson * Te Manawa Museum (formerly Manawatu Art Gallery), Palmerston North * The Rutherford Trust Collection, Wellington * The Todd Corporation Art Collection, Wellington * University of Otago Medical School, Auckland * University of Otago, Dunedin * Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, Alan 1929 births 2019 deaths Artists from Liverpool British emigrants to New Zealand Naturalised citizens of New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand male artists 21st-century New Zealand male artists Ilam School of Fine Arts alumni Artists from Christchurch