|
 Angels
and Roses
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| Litany Desk, 1945, Frederick George Gurnsey,
St. Mary's, Timaru |
Frederick George Gurnsey
20 August - 19 October 1997
For almost fifty years, following his emigration from Britain to
New Zealand in 1904, Frederick George Gurnsey was a leading figure
in local wood and stone carving.
He taught at the Canterbury College School of Art until 1923 and
later worked as a freelance carver on prestigious commissions throughout
New Zealand. Among his best known works are the reredos and the
Chapel of St. Michael and St. George in the Christchurch Anglican
Cathedral and the stone carvings on the Bridge of Remembrance.
Angels and Roses presents Gurnsey's work to the Christchurch
community and celebrates his very significant contribution to the
artistic impact of many local buildings. The fifty works gathered
for the exhibition are choice examples of his work. Included are
dressers, chairs, altars, pulpits and a fine 1929 reredos. Through
these works from his large oeuvre we will be able to witness Gurnsey's
skill and versatility in a wide range of carvings both charming
and witty. Above all though is the technical excellence of his ornamental
carving which, despite the ambiguous status on the boundary of art
and craft, lifts this artist's work into a special category.
The title for this exhibition arises from the angel forms featured
on many of the ecclesiastical pieces and the carved Tudor rose which
Gurnsey used as an affectionate tribute to his wife Rose Ellen.
Gurnsey was too modest to sign his works so instead is often identified
by his angel and rose monogram. Yet no two of his hundreds of angels,
cherubim and putti are ever the same, and his thousands of roses
vary from naturalistic flowers to emblematic Tudor blooms.
Angels and Roses will help break down the often negative and elitist
barriers between art and craft and between sculpture and carving
which have tended to obscure Gurnsey's remarkable achievement. His
versatility also provides a fascinating insight into artistic styles:
from the Art Nouveau of the country church font cover to the 17th
century "Wrenaissance" style of the Bishopscourt font
and chair; from the Elizabethan revivalism of his flagons to the
distinctively New Zealand imagery on the North Otago pews.
Angels and Roses is a collaboration between Mark Stocker, Senior
Lecturer in Art History at the University of Canterbury, and Anna
Crighton, Registrar at the McDougall Art Gallery, who did the preliminary
research on Gurnsey as a post graduate student at the University
of Canterbury several years ago. Works have been generously lent
from private owners and institutions throughout New Zealand. On
Sunday 14 September, at 11.00 am, Mark Stocker will give a Floortalk
on Angels and Roses
This exhibition was held at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery in
the Botanic Gardens.
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