Kate Sperrey

Eleanor Catherine Sperrey (7 January 1862 – 23 April 1893), also known as Kate Sperrey, was a noted portraitist from New Zealand who flourished at the end of the nineteenth century. She painted portraits of many of the most noted statesmen of New Zealand and has works in the permanent collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the Alexander Turnbull Library, Auckland Art Gallery, and the Whangarei Art Museum.

Kate Sperrey
1887 self portrait
Born
Eleanor Catherine Sperrey

(1862-01-07)7 January 1862
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Died23 April 1893(1893-04-23) (aged 31)
Blenheim, New Zealand
NationalityNew Zealander
Other namesEleanor K. Mair, Kate Mair, E. Kate Sperry
Occupationartist
Years active1885–1893
Known forportraiture

Early life

Eleanor Catherine Sperrey was born on 7 January 1862 in Geelong, Victoria, Australia to Eleanor (née Maunder) and John Sperrey. The following year, her family moved to Dunedin, New Zealand, where her father, who had been a timber merchant, was engaged in the sub-treasurer's office as a clerk. In 1865, her mother died and Kate was raised by her father. She began studies at Otago Girls' High School in 1873, and studied art with David Con Hutton, principal of the Otago School of Art. She submitted work to the Intercolonial Juvenile Industrial Exhibition at Melbourne in 1880 and won a silver medal.[1] Around 1881, Sperrey traveled to Rome to study portraiture with Giuseppe Ferrari.[2] Her study of an Italian goatherd won a gold medal in the Prix de Rome competition,[3] and was considered her masterpiece.[4] Before she returned home to New Zealand, Sperrey also studied in London and Paris.[2]

Italian goatherd, 1884, by Eleanor Catherine Sperrey. Gift of Miss K. A. Mair, 1912. Te Papa (1912-0029-1)

Career

Sperrey returned to New Zealand in 1884, moving to Wellington,[2] where her father was living and working as the Commissioner of Taxation.[3] She set up an office and became an official portrait artist, joining the New Zealand Art Students' Association in 1885. The organization, based in Auckland, encouraged members to paint solely subjects having to do with New Zealand. In 1886, she moved her studio to Lambton Quay.[2] She participated in numerous exhibitions including the Otago Art Society's shows in both 1886 and 1887,[3] the New South Wales Art Society 1886 Sydney Town Hall exhibit,[5] the Auckland Society of Art's exhibitions of 1887 and 1888, the Centennial Exhibition of 1889 in Melbourne and the South Seas Exhibition of Dunedin in both 1889 and 1890.[3]

Bushstream Wainuiomata by Eleanor Catherine Sperry. Whangarei Art Museum Te Manawa Toi
Sir William Fitzherbert by Eleanor Catherine Sperry. Whangarei Art Museum Te Manawa Toi

On 19 September 1888 in Wellington, Sperrey married Captain Gilbert Mair, whose portrait she had painted in 1886 when he had been awarded the New Zealand Cross.[2][6] Mair was a soldier and civil servant, who had previously fathered two sons and a daughter with the Ngāti Tūwharetoa woman, Keita Kupa.[6][7] The new couple had two children of their own, John Gilbert, on 5 July 1889, who died in infancy,[2][7] and Kathleen Irene, known as Airini,[2] (1891–1965), who would become a noted artist under her married name, as K. Airini Vane.[8][9] After her marriage Sperrey, continued painting, signing her works as E. K. Mair.[2]

In 1889, Mair created paintings which earned first, second and third prizes, in the oil and water colour category of the Melbourne Fine Art Exhibit.[10] Predominantly known as a portrait artist, she painted the likenesses of such figures as Sir Harry Atkinson, John Ballance, Sir William Fitzherbert, Sir George Grey, and James Macandrew, among many others.[11] She was also renowned for her paintings of Māori subjects, some of which included Wairingiringi, a Ngāti Mahuta woman and her husband, Te Wahanui, a Ngāti Maniapoto tribal leader.[2] In 1890, for New Zealand's Golden Jubilee, Musings in Maoriland, by Thomas Bracken was published outlining the colony's development of art and literature. The 400-page commemorative volume was illustrated with sepia sketches by Sperrey which were engraved in Nuremberg, Germany.[12][13] Two of her last works were portraits of her own children.[4]

Death and legacy

Mair died on 23 April 1893 in Blenheim, New Zealand[14] and was buried in Wellington in the Bolton Street Cemetery, beside her father.[2][11] Her self-portrait is in the collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library[2] and her most noted work, Italian goatherd is in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.[15] She also has works in Auckland Art Gallery[16] and Christchurch Art Gallery.[17] In 2000, a retrospective of her works were presented by the Whangarei Art Museum between January and March followed by a presentation at the Sarjeant Gallery, which ran through the end of May.[18] The Whangarei Art Museum hosted an exhibit featuring two of Mair's works, in 2012. One was her portrait of Prime Minister Sir George Grey and the other was a painting of a bush scene. The two paintings had been in storage for a century and are now part of the museum's permanent collection.[19]

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References

Citations
  1. Otago Daily Times 1880, p. 2.
  2. Vial 1993.
  3. Platts 1980, p. 222.
  4. The New Zealand Herald 1893, p. 5.
  5. The Sydney Morning Herald 1886, p. 7.
  6. Wanhalla 2013, p. 150.
  7. Savage 2012.
  8. National Library of New Zealand 2017.
  9. Hardie 1995, p. 1926.
  10. The New Zealand Herald 1889, p. 11.
  11. The Colonist 1893, p. 1 (supplement).
  12. North Otago Times 1890, p. 3.
  13. The Marlborough Express 1890, p. 4.
  14. The New Zealand Times 1893, p. 2.
  15. Te Papa 2017.
  16. Auckland Art Gallery 2018.
  17. Christchurch Art Gallery 2018.
  18. Pothan 1999.
  19. Eagles 2012.

Bibliography
  • Eagles, Jim (12 July 2012). "Whangarei: Artistic adventure at the museum". The New Zealand Herald. Auckland, New Zealand. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  • Hardie, Melissa (1995). 100 Years in Newlyn: Diary of a Gallery. New Mill, Cornwall, England: Hypatia Publications. ISBN 978-1-872229-22-5.
  • Platts, Una (1980). "Sperry, E. Kate". Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists: A Guide & Handbook (PDF). Christchurch, New Zealand: Avon Fine Prints Limited. p. 222. OCLC 846895380. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2017.
  • Pothan, Scott, ed. (1999). Eleanor Katherine Sperrey—E. Kate Sperrey, 1862–1893—Mrs Gilbert Mair: reminiscence, a selective memoir (Report). Whangarei, New Zealand: Whangarei Art Museum. OCLC 154649146.
  • Savage, Paula (January 2012). "Story: Mair, Gilbert". Te Ara. Wellington, New Zealand: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2017 – via Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
  • Vial, Jane (1993). "Story: Sperrey, Eleanor Catherine". Te Ara. Wellington, New Zealand: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Archived from the original on 18 June 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2017 – via Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
  • Wanhalla, Angela (2013). Matters of the Heart: A History of Interracial Marriage in New Zealand. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press. ISBN 978-1-86940-771-1.
  • "Death". The Colonist (7630). Nelson, New Zealand. 15 May 1893. p. 1 (supplement). Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  • "Death of an Artist". The New Zealand Times (9894). Wellington, New Zealand. 27 April 1893. p. 2. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  • "Kate Sperrey". Aukland: Auckland Art Gallery. 11 October 2018. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018.
  • "Kate Sperrey". Christchurch, New Zealand: Christchurch Art Gallery. 2018. Archived from the original on 11 October 2018.
  • "Musings in Maoriland". The Marlborough Express (302). Marlborough, New Zealand. 5 November 1890. p. 3. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  • "Musings in Maoriland". North Otago Times (6952). Otago. 30 January 1890. p. 4. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  • "Object: Italian goatherd". Te Papa. Wellington, New Zealand: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. 2017. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  • "The Late Mrs. Gilbert Mair". The New Zealand Herald (9195). Auckland, New Zealand. 9 May 1893. p. 5. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  • "The Melbourne Exhibition". The New Zealand Herald (9296). Auckland, New Zealand. 25 February 1889. p. 11. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  • "The Melbourne Juvenile Industrial Exhibition". Otago Daily Times (5633). 10 March 1880. Retrieved 11 October 2018 – via Papers Past National Library of New Zealand.
  • "Vane, Kathleen Airini, 1891–1965". National Library. Wellington, New Zealand: National Library of New Zealand. 2017. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  • "(untitled)". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, NSW, Australia. 26 April 1886. p. 7. Retrieved 7 September 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
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