Figure Study

Selwyn Wilson studied under John Weeks and Archibald Fisher, who taught him technical skills and encouraged him to experiment with colour, texture and form in the style of Post-Impressionist painters such as Paul Cézanne. Auckland Art Gallery purchased Figure Study and a 1948 portrait by Wilson while he was still a student at Elam School of Fine Arts. The purchase of student work by the Gallery was unprecedented. As a nude self-portrait set in a studio at night, Figure Study has an admirable honesty.

Wilson came from a generation of artists, teachers and mentors who were generous with advice and unconcerned by attaining a place in the ‘canon’. His readiness as a teacher sprang less from any desire for recognition than from his empathy for promising students. His mettle as a teacher is apparent in his statement: ‘One doesn’t teach art to make artists and teachers. What I always aimed to give all students was an awareness of the place where they live . . . with an eye for the design of all functional things around us.’

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