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Bill Sutton (artist)
William Alexander Sutton CBE (1 March 1917 – 23 January 2000) was a New Zealand portrait and landscape artist.
Sutton was born in Sydenham, Christchurch and attended Christchurch Boys High School. He became interested in art at an early age and was first taught in art classes by Ivy Fife and later at night classes with Colin S. Lovell-Smith. In 1934 he began his studies at the Canterbury College School of Art (since 1956, the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts) and was awarded his Diploma of Fine Arts in 1937. He was tutored by many well-known Canterbury artists, including Evelyn Page, Archibald Nicoll and Cecil Kelly. In 1941 Sutton was found unfit for overseas service in World War II and served as a conscript in the Home Force of the New Zealand Army who used his art skills for camouflaging activities. A year later his name was put forward for the role of New Zealand’s war artist but the role was filled by Russell Clark. Sutton then replaced Clark as an illustrator for Korero the New Zealand Army magazine. In 1945 Sutton began a part-time teaching position at the Canterbury College of Art.
Two years later Sutton travelled to London on a Mural Scholarship where he studied for a time at the Anglo-French Centre in St John's Wood. He returned to New Zealand in 1949 to take up a permanent teaching position at the Canterbury University College School of Art and in 1959 was appointed senior lecturer. Sutton continued to teach at the school until his retirement in 1979 and continued painting until 1993. A number of students of note who passed through the art school during Sutton’s tenure have commented on his influence including Pat Hanly and Jonathan Mane-Wheoki.
In 1963, Sutton’s Art School colleague Tom Taylor designed a house for him at 20 Templar Street in the Christchurch suburb of Richmond. The house included Sutton’s studio and he painted most of his works there. The house was purchased by Neil Roberts, a former curator of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, whose intention was to gift it for an artist in residence scheme. Following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake the house was purchased by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority on behalf of the Crown because it was in the Residential Red Zone. The Crown then sold the house back to the Christchurch City Council for $1. Since 2022 it has become an artist residency run by the Sutton Heritage House and Garden Trust. The Sutton House was also listed as a Historic Place Category 1 by Heritage New Zealand in 2022.
During the 1940s and 1950s Sutton followed in the footsteps of fellow Canterbury artists, such as Rita Angus, Colin McCahon, Rata Lovell-Smith and Louise Henderson, to develop his own distinctive interpretation of the Canterbury landscape. He continued to explore this landscape through both realist and abstract interpretations for the rest of his life. Some selected examples:
Like many of his Christchurch peers, Sutton was a regular exhibitor with The Group. He first showed in the 1946 Group Show with Apricot Orchard and then 20 more times until the final exhibition of The Group in 1977 in which he exhibited Te Tihi O Kahukura and Sky No. 5 (The Citadel of the Rainbow God) . Other key exhibitions include:
1970 First solo show in Christchurch, CSA Gallery
1973 Threshold, Stewart Mair Gallery, Canterbury Society of Arts.
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Bill Sutton (artist)
William Alexander Sutton CBE (1 March 1917 – 23 January 2000) was a New Zealand portrait and landscape artist.
Sutton was born in Sydenham, Christchurch and attended Christchurch Boys High School. He became interested in art at an early age and was first taught in art classes by Ivy Fife and later at night classes with Colin S. Lovell-Smith. In 1934 he began his studies at the Canterbury College School of Art (since 1956, the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts) and was awarded his Diploma of Fine Arts in 1937. He was tutored by many well-known Canterbury artists, including Evelyn Page, Archibald Nicoll and Cecil Kelly. In 1941 Sutton was found unfit for overseas service in World War II and served as a conscript in the Home Force of the New Zealand Army who used his art skills for camouflaging activities. A year later his name was put forward for the role of New Zealand’s war artist but the role was filled by Russell Clark. Sutton then replaced Clark as an illustrator for Korero the New Zealand Army magazine. In 1945 Sutton began a part-time teaching position at the Canterbury College of Art.
Two years later Sutton travelled to London on a Mural Scholarship where he studied for a time at the Anglo-French Centre in St John's Wood. He returned to New Zealand in 1949 to take up a permanent teaching position at the Canterbury University College School of Art and in 1959 was appointed senior lecturer. Sutton continued to teach at the school until his retirement in 1979 and continued painting until 1993. A number of students of note who passed through the art school during Sutton’s tenure have commented on his influence including Pat Hanly and Jonathan Mane-Wheoki.
In 1963, Sutton’s Art School colleague Tom Taylor designed a house for him at 20 Templar Street in the Christchurch suburb of Richmond. The house included Sutton’s studio and he painted most of his works there. The house was purchased by Neil Roberts, a former curator of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, whose intention was to gift it for an artist in residence scheme. Following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake the house was purchased by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority on behalf of the Crown because it was in the Residential Red Zone. The Crown then sold the house back to the Christchurch City Council for $1. Since 2022 it has become an artist residency run by the Sutton Heritage House and Garden Trust. The Sutton House was also listed as a Historic Place Category 1 by Heritage New Zealand in 2022.
During the 1940s and 1950s Sutton followed in the footsteps of fellow Canterbury artists, such as Rita Angus, Colin McCahon, Rata Lovell-Smith and Louise Henderson, to develop his own distinctive interpretation of the Canterbury landscape. He continued to explore this landscape through both realist and abstract interpretations for the rest of his life. Some selected examples:
Like many of his Christchurch peers, Sutton was a regular exhibitor with The Group. He first showed in the 1946 Group Show with Apricot Orchard and then 20 more times until the final exhibition of The Group in 1977 in which he exhibited Te Tihi O Kahukura and Sky No. 5 (The Citadel of the Rainbow God) . Other key exhibitions include:
1970 First solo show in Christchurch, CSA Gallery
1973 Threshold, Stewart Mair Gallery, Canterbury Society of Arts.