The sable brush in the iron fist

What do Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, Dwight Eisenhower, Helen Clark and now Vladimir Putin have in common? They are all politicians who have painted, or in Clark’s case, drawn. Like Clark, Putin the painter’s work has aroused some suspicion as to whether it is actually by his hand. One critic was bold enough to remark (that’s bold in the anonymous sense of the word), "It looks as if it was painted by a sentimental woman. It is too sweet; you can feel it in the brushwork and the palette. The core theme is feminine too.”

Rei Hamon 1919-2008

If you asked someone in the street to name a New Zealand artist in the early seventies, chances are they would have called up Peter McIntyre or Rei Hamon rather than Hamon’s contemporary Colin McCahon. Both McIntyre and Hamon became household names largely through the publication of their work in coffee table books as well as Hamon through prints. Rei Hamon, Artist of the New Zealand Bush, died a couple of days ago at the age of 88. We saw one of his familiar black and white prints today in a secondhand store, pre loved and still working the crowds.