Grace Ellen Butler (née Cumming, 23 December 1886 – 23 November 1962) was a New Zealand artist. Butler was known for her landscape paintings of New Zealand and her works are held in the collections of the Canterbury Society of Arts Gallery and

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

Early life and family

Born Grace Ellen Cumming, in 1886, Richmond Grove,

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

, she was the daughter Scottish immigrants, Jane Cameron and William Forbes Cumming, a carter and contractor. Following the death of her father in 1889 her family moved to the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

and she attended the

Norsewood Norsewood is a small rural settlement in the Tararua District and Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. The town is situated east of the Ruahine Mountain range and is located 20 kilometres northeast of Dannevirke. Geography ...

School, where her eldest sister worked as a teacher. She married Guy Raphael Butler, a law clerk from

Poverty Bay Poverty Bay (Māori language, Māori: ''Tūranganui-a-Kiwa''), officially named Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay, is the largest of several small bays on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island to the north of Hawke Bay. It stretches for ...

, in Gisborne on 1 March 1911 and they settled 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 ...

. The couple went on to have three daughters, including Helen Brew.

Education

From around 1903 until 1907 Butler attended the Napier Technical School and studied art. She also worked at the school as a teacher. In 1910 she enrolled in the

Canterbury College School of Art The Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, located in the Ilam suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, was founded in 1882 as the Canterbury College School of Art. The school became a full department of the university in the ...

(now Ilam School of Fine Arts) where she studied until 1914. In her first year at the college she was awarded the Advanced Art Scholarship. During her time at the college she studied under Sydney Thompson, Leonard Booth, Cecil Kelly, and Richard Wallwork. Throughout her life Butler continued to be influenced by Sydney Thompson, attending his classes in 1923–1925.

Career

In 1915 Butler became a working member of the

Canterbury Society of Arts Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA, formerly the Canterbury Society of Arts) is a curated art gallery in the centre of Christchurch, New Zealand. The gallery is governed by the Canterbury Society of Arts Charitable Trust. History The Canterbu ...

and began to exhibit regularly with New Zealand art societies. As well as the Canterbury Society of Arts she exhibited with the Auckland Society of Arts,

New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts (also referred to as the Wellington Art Society) was founded in Wellington in July 1882 as The Fine Arts Association of New Zealand. Founding artists included painters William Beetham (first president of the As ...

, Otago Art Society, and

The Group The Group may refer to: Film and television * ''The Group'' (Australian TV series), 1971 situation comedy produced by Cash Harmon Television for ATN7 * ''The Group'' (Canadian TV series), 1968–70 music variety on CBC Television * ''The Group ...

(1934). Butler regularly exhibited with the exhibited Canterbury Society of Arts until 1960. Works by Butler were included in the London

British Empire Exhibition The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925. Background In 1920 the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government decide ...

in London (1924) and the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, taking place in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

, 1925 – 1926. In 1916 and 1920 the Canterbury Society of Arts acquired two of her landscapes for its permanent collection. Works by Butler are also held at the

including ''Glaciers, Rolleston Mountains'' (presented to the museum in 1922), ''Bush Trees, Lake Kanieri'', and ''Governor's Bay''. Other notable works by Butler include ''Summertime, Arthur's Pass'' (c. 1945).

Landscape painting

Butler became well known for her landscapes. The critic James Shelley praised her work saying, "No artist in New Zealand had quite the same sympathy with our alpine scenery" and fellow painter

Olivia Spencer Bower Catherine Olivia Orme Spencer Bower (13 April 1905 – 8 July 1982) was a New Zealand painter. Born in England, she spent her adult life in New Zealand, mostly in Christchurch. Early life Spencer Bower was born in St Neots, Huntingdonshire, ...

saw her as, "one of the first women who bothered about New Zealand scenery." Many of her landscapes were of the area around

Otira Otira is a small township fifteen kilometres north of Arthur's Pass in the central South Island of New Zealand. It is on the northern approach to the pass, a saddle between the Ōtira and Bealey Rivers high in the Southern Alps. A possible me ...

. She first traveled to the region in 1916 and then visited regularly after she and her husband purchased a cabin at

Arthur's Pass Arthur's Pass, previously called Camping Flat then Bealey Flats, and for some time officially Arthurs Pass, is a township in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, located in the Selwyn district. It is a popular base for explori ...

. Butler was committed to the ''

en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French language, French for 'outdoors'), or plein-air painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein ai ...

'' method and often worked in adverse conditions at remote sites. The relation of light to tone and colour were key elements in her landscapes. From the late 1920s she was increasingly influenced by the work of the

impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subjec ...

and her painting style became freer and looser.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Grace 1887 births 1962 deaths New Zealand painters New Zealand women painters People from Invercargill University of Canterbury alumni People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Ilam School of Fine Arts alumni People associated with the Canterbury Society of Arts People associated with the Auckland Society of Arts People associated with The Group (New Zealand art)