The painter de Ritz
Abstract
The myth of de Ritz, when first we heard of him, was that of an itinerant late-nineteenth century painter (a view echoed in Una Platts’ 1980 Nineteenth Century New Zealand artists: a guide & handbook). Seeing the paintings, one imagined a Romantic wanderer at makeshift easel, smoke rising lazily from a fire whereupon a billy boiled, a river before, a tent beyond: a remittance man, perhaps, a shamed scion escaping old Europe for Antipodean bush, fleeing heartacheor financial scandal or the outcome of a duel.
References
Platts, Una. Nineteenth Century New Zealand artists: a guide & handbook. Christchurch, NZ: Avon Fine Prints Limited, 1980. The entry for de Ritz reads: ‘Said to have been itinerant painter in New Zealand round turn of century.’
Minson, Miriam, personal correspondence. Curator, Drawings & Prints, Alexander Turnbull Library, 21 December 1993.
The Mayclair attribution has been contested in comments on Trade Me 2012–2017.
Australian Art Auction Records: J. R. Mayclair. New Zealand. https://www.artrecord.com/index.cfm/artist/5586-mayclair-j-r/medium/1-paintings/
Yahoo Answers: Does anybody know anything of the artist “Mayclair”? https://nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20150720222749AAN5Ryi
Gilderdale, Peter. Senior Lecturer, Graphic Design, AUT. 16 April 2018: conversation concerning the difficulty of establishing whether it is a ‘G’ or a ‘by’ that precedes ‘de Ritz’ in the bulk of Garratt’s signatures.
Garratt, Henry Thomas, 1875–1953, Manuscripts Online–Auckland Council.
BALMORAL CLUB. Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 197, 21 August 1935. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19350821.2.184.3?end_date=31-12-1949&page=6&phrase=0&query=H+T+Garratt&start_date=01-01-1839
ST. JOHN AMBULANCE New Zealand Her-ald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22765, 26 June 1937. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19370626.2.203.2?end_date=31-12-1949&page=2&phrase=0&query=H+T+Garratt&start_date=01-01-1839
DANCE AT WAIHEKE New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23319, 12 April 1939. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19390412.2.6.14?end_date=31-12-1949&page=20&phrase=0&query=H+T+Garratt&start_date=01-01-1839
ROAD BOARD VACANCIES. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19619, 23 April 1927. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19270423.2.122?end_date=31-12-1949&page=4&phrase=0&query=H+T+Garratt&start_date=01-01-1839
Mr. Henry Thomas Garratt, The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District], 1902. Accessed: NZETC (New Zealand Electronic Text Collection) online.
Online auctions: 2010–2018.
Copyright (c) 2018 John Barnett, Lesley Kaiser
Article text:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Photos:
Backstory has been granted permission to reproduce photographs and images that are subject to copyright. Permission to reproduce this material must be sought from the copyright holder concerned. Please note, some images may have been removed due to copyright reasons.