The Auckland Mahlstick Club established in 1885 & Edwin Bartley

Auckland Mahlstick Club 1893. APL Image 5-1673. Artists include: Leech, John (Harold); Abercrombie, F J, Pheney, R, Bartley, Edwin, Holland, J C, Carter, C M, Drummond, R A, Horsley, J, Wright, Walter, Gregory, G, Stuart, S, Leech, H, Bollard, W A, Yearbury, J, Ball, T, Wright, Frank, Felkin, W, Trenwith, M, Debney, R J, Drummond, T I

A change of emphasis this week. While I was researching the Auckland Industrial Exhibition 1898, featured in previous posts, I noticed the quality of the art submitted for that exhibition. Clearly the arts in Auckland were flourishing and confident in the late nineteenth century. Exhibitions were a significant platform for established artists but what of the young ones coming through? What were their opportunities? This post looks at their Auckland 'art scene' and one organisation in particular - the Mahlstick Club.

The Auckland Society of Arts was an active organisation, particularly after its reconstitution in 1880. So there was ample opportunity to exhibit locally but within the conservative context to the required standard, on conventional subjects. The only venues for the collegial exchange of new ideas and expertise were personal and social and, by extension, invisible.

After the ASA exhibition of 1885 four artists responded with a solution of their own. The Auckland Mahlstick Club 1 was formed by  Thomas Ball ( first president), Thomas L Drummond, Mr Felkin and RJ Debney. Una Platts dismissed this group as 'a congenial group of ASA painters'.2 I submit they were more than that. They also had the support of a group amongst the old guard of ASA members, including Edward Bartley, Mackechnie and Peyton.

These older men were very aware of the potential a free, relatively 'classless' society offered here. Ideally, in New Zealand every person could improve themselves by the study of the liberal arts. They were 'liberal' because traditionally they were only available to the free man and not the slave. These men were interested in accessing knowledge for mutual improvement. They were practical people able to apply the latest technology and innovation in artistic expression as easily as engineering. The application of photography, projection and microsopy in their art is relevant here.

It may seem strange to a 21st century mind that such issues as the 40 Hour Working Week and free universal education should be playing out in the art world but they did- and still do, though today we tend to perceive the issues as more financial than philosophical.

Mahlstick Club membership was originally limited to 12 members. They laid an emphasis on black and white work – drawing and sketching in pen, ink, charcoal and chalk particularly. 3 Members gathered in each other’s house for sketching practice and to exchange ideas and information about art matters. They were young and emerging artists for the most part.

This was not a splinter group off the ASA but an enrichment group. They remained members of ASA and supported that society's exhibitions with a regular, high quality body of work.
The Club quickly gained the support of Frank and Walter Wright of Wright's Studios in Auckland. These men were Edwin Bartley's tutors. It is likely they introduced him and others to the 'inner circle' of this emerging art community. Its emergence was rapid too.4

The positive influence of the Mahstick Club on the study and practice of art in Auckland was acknowledged at the time.  After an exhibition of their work at an Athenaeum conversatione held in the Museum Institute 30 November 1886,5 the Society of Arts then took up their black and white theme  in their own exhibition in 1887, to which the Club contributed a number of drawings.

At the opening of that exhibition Mr Mackechnie, the president, not only reinforced the importance of sound drawing skills for artists. He laid emphasis on the wider applications of practical art training, referring to drawing skills as ‘the right hand of the workman and the mainstay of a technical education. If we are to have local industries and manufactures among us our people must have instruction in the art of drawing to acquire freedom of hand and facility of execution.’6
It helps us to understand that concerns over the lack of practical art, design and technical training facilities in Auckland formed the background to these remarks.

By 1891 the Mahlstick Club had over 20 members. A weekly life drawing class was held along with regular sketching expeditions. They now met in larger rooms with a more formal meeting structure.

NZH 8 Aug 1891

For the young ones coming through a goal was acceptance into the Cantebury art school. At this time the best teaching and most progressive climate was found in Christchurch. There a sister organisation, the Cantebury Palette Club, was soon formed with ex-pat Mahlstick Club members such as Edwin Bartley at its core.
A regular exchange of work between the centres formed an enriching inter-provincial dialogue. Works were loaned for exhibition in both centres. A strongly New Zealand voice was beginning to emerge now. The focus of attention was on place- their place and their time- rather than on European historical motifs as inspiration. There was less inclination in this Mahstick group to view the 'indigenous' place or person as a picturesque 'other' - a tendency of colonial period art discussed by Rebecca Rice in her 2010 thesis found here

The Mahlstick Club continued into the pre-war years, by then itself so 'establishment' an institution that papers presented to its meetings were published in full by the daily press.7 So the Great Wheel turns would you say?

1. A mahlstick is a piece of artist's equipment - a light stick with a padded leather ball at one end, held against work by a painter to support and steady the brush hand.
2. Una Platts, 'Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists: A Guide and Handbook' 1979 Avon House page 163. Digital Copy here
3. Ref NZH 31 Oct 1891
4.Edwin Bartley is one example of the young men and women establishing their art practice in the 1880s and 90s. His career is covered in a previous post, found here.
5. Ref AES 26 Nov 1886, NZH 03 Dec 1886
6. Ref AES 20 Oct 1887
7. Ref AES 1 Aug 1908

Auckland Industrial and Mining Exhibition 1898-99

The opening of the Auckland Exhibition, Auckland Weekly News 9 Dec 1898

Welcome back everyone. We are starting the research year of 2018 with a look at a summer spectacular - open from December 1898.

This is a longer post than usual. The main reason is that there is little material available in an accessible form on this topic. Our connection is Edward Bartley's involvement but we also touch here on the early history of the 'University Precinct' of Auckland- Princes St, Symonds St in particular.

In 1898 Auckland put on a great extravaganza - the Industrial and Mining Exhibition - which was part of a worldwide phenomenon begun in Europe in 1851 and continuing until the Great War.

Any adult attending the Auckland Exhibition that year could be said to belong to the 'exhibition generation'. Certainly Edward Bartley was a good example of this. He was there with his family at the Great Exhibition in London during the summer of 1851 - aged 11.

This image published by the Guardian shows the Great Exhibition buildings, London, visited by 6 million people

Coming to New Zealand three years later he must have been struck by the contrast - from Paxton's great glass house filled with technology and international design to the single storey timber stores on Auckland's waterfront.
We know he was also struck by the exquisite natural beauty of this country-first seen at that Great Exhibition- beginning his lifelong engagement with New Zealander timber, stone and vegetation.

This trans-national inter-connecting effect of the 'Exhibition' was hugely influential in forming aspirational and international patterns of thinking and being in the world. This theme has recently been explored by New Zealand historians.The PhD research of  Ewan Johnston specifically concerns the representation of Pacific peoples at exhibitions up to 1940. For this and relevant recent research refer here.

The proposal to mount an exhibition in Auckland was presented in January 1898 by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce whose president Mr Bart. Kent chaired the Executive Exhibition Committee.

The many committees and sub-committees included influencers in every area of endeavour active in Auckland at that time. Five acres were made available for showgrounds at the former Government House grounds, entered via Princes St in the central city. 70,000 square feet of covered space was specified, a cycling track and associated detached structures.

Edward was elected to the Building and Lighting Committee and to the Arts and Decorating Committee. His involvement with the Society of Arts was valued on the latter. The Choral Hall in Symonds St was to be the venue for an art exhibition open to all art society members throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Architects appointed to the Building Committee all had a hand in designing the centre piece - the main exhibition hall. De Montalk, Skinner and Arnold presented concept drawings for discussion.
Final plans were presented to the Executive, drawn up by Robert de Montalk, and accepted in April 1898.1

Sketch of the Proposed Exhibition Buildings Auckland 1898 AWN 28 May 1898

NZH 2 May 1898

This image, taken just before the opening ceremony shows the main entrance and orientation of the exhibition buildings. AWN 9 Dec 1898

The cycle track designed for the event was of concrete construction, banked for racing 5 laps to the mile. A running track was provided in the centre

The cycle track under construction AWN14 Oct 1898

The Cycle Track viewing area during the first day of the exhibition AWN 9 Dec 1898

One main focus of the Exhibition was the mineral resources of the region.  Organisers clearly intended to improve on the successful exhibitions already held in more southern provinces. 

In the words of the NZ Herald the event was 'an incontrovertible assertion of our industrial progress and an undeniable advertisement of our mineral resources.'2

Auckland emphasised the diversity as much as the technology. Coal and kauri gum from Whangarei, Dargaville and further North was found in the Minerals Court, with the latest mining and processing technology from the  gold mining strongholds of Coromandel and Thames.

The Story of Gold, as told by the Hauraki Region AWN 25 Nov 1898

Security was necessarily tight for the duration of the exhibition. Here officers are on duty at the Northland stand. AWN 16 Dec 1898 

It is noticable in the accounts and images that the standard of presentation and the content of the displays was far higher in 1898 than a modern 'expo' goer would be likely to meet today. Visitors expected to be informed as well as entertained. Some exhibitors, such as the Thames School of Mines, for their part, expected to attract a new generation into the industry.

Meanwhile in the manufacturing hall crowds of spectators gathered around the working looms of the Onehunga Woollen Mills. These recently imported machines were demonstrated by trained operators who invited close questioning by their audience.3

Luxury manufacturing in the province was also strong feature of the event. Then as now Auckland looked to American and Australian trends as much as British or local ones.

The Luxurious stand of Iredale's Ladies Wear - note the high standard of joinery and fittings on this temporary display.

A sophisticated refreshment stand - the Nathan's kiosk sold teas and iced teas throughout the event. AWN 10 Feb 1899

Arts, cultural  and sporting prowess in Auckland was equally celebrated at this exhibition. In addition to the modern sport of cycling, demonstrations of rhythmic gymnastics for youth of both genders looked forward to the health movements of the coming 20th century.
A particular highlight was the Exhibition Choir, of 600 voices, with orchestra and invited soloists performing Arthur Sullivan's 'The Golden Legend'. Music recitals and concert performances, both at exhibitor stands and other venues, occurred throughout months of the exhibition.

In our next post we consider the closing of the Exhibition and how it affected the region.

1. ref NZH 29 April 1989
2. ref NZH 28 May 1898
3. ref NZH 14 Dec 1898

Cookery Class with Isabella Ross, Food Advertising - and Gingerbread- of course

Image BFA 2014

I was hunting for an 'authentic' gingerbread recipe this morning. The first place to look was in our old cook books. The baking is no further ahead but I hope you enjoy these images from one of my favourites. 

In 1900  the Metropolitan Gas Company, Melbourne published 'Cookery Class Recipes'. Mrs Isabella Ross, their celebrity queen of gas powered cooking, wrote the recipes.

Distilled to an essence Mrs Ross' ethos sounds something like this:

Fresh is best. Produce travels from the garden to the chopping board. That's it.

 Work with the seasons - enjoy the bounty of summer and preserve the surplus. Her readers did not expect fresh courgettes or strawberries in winter.

Be prepared - planning ahead reduces waste.

Get creative- with 'left overs', with opportunities to experiment

Prepare your basics in bulk.

Of course you can - have a go. Trying just one new thing can be the basis for a whole new repertoire.

I like that recipe for outside the kitchen as well. The anachronistic part is that the book was peppered with advertisements for instant sauces and food supplements - sound familiar? It became a proven format used throughout the 20th century.

This publication carried an advertisement for Phosphatine and a special selection of recipes using the product at the end of the book. Produced by a Belgian company, Phosphatine contained calcium phosphate - and still does. It is a brand still popular in Europe today as a food supplement and iron rich tonic. It's reputation for offsetting the effects of poor diet made it a staple in many households during the Great War and the Depression years especially. 

Advertisement 1900 Cookery Class Recipes, Isabella Ross

These days the dangers of artificial phosphates to both humans and animals are well known.1 We do, however, have much in common with the Victorian generation. Not only are products like these 'fortified' foods still available today, but most processed and fast food contains at least one synthetic 

phosphate under the 'E' label code.

Failiere's Phosphatine was also supported by sophisticated four-colour print advertising at point of sale,  in posters and stamps published before the Great War. Featuring marionettes and other themes in collectable sets, they point to the sophisticated use of what we often consider 'modern' marketing techniques.

Faliere's Alphabet Advertising from about 1904 - image Wikimedia

On the subject of processed foods this advertisement found near the Savouries section of the book features a brand well known in Australasia. Hutton's products are now part of Heller's group

By the 1920's the brand had taken a different tone, reflecting the 'talkies' influence on popular culture.

Artwork by J Miller, Huttons Promotional Poster

The great expansion of Empire under Queen Victoria forms the background to much of the advertising of this turn of the century period. Here patriotism and loyalty to 'Home' is encouraged in the purchase of pantry staples.

Which brings us back to gingerbread - here is Mrs Ross's recipe

1. Phosphate in Food Published online 2012 Jan 27. doi:  10.3238/arztebl.2012.0049
PMCID: PMC3278747 Phosphate Additives in Food—a Health Risk
Eberhard Ritz, Prof. Dr. med.,*,1 Kai Hahn, Dr. med.,2 Markus Ketteler, Prof. Dr. med.,3 Martin K Kuhlmann, Prof. Dr. med.,4 and Johannes Mann, Prof. Dr. med.5

'One important step would be to inform physicians and the public thoroughly about the potential risks to cardiovascular and renal function arising from dietary phosphate consumption. Phosphate has long been known to elevate the cardiovascular risk in dialysis patients, but analogous effects have only recently been shown in persons with moderately impaired renal function (of whom the number is growing) and even in persons with normal renal function (6, 7, 23). The changing age structure of the population, with ever more elderly people, further deepens the implications of this problem for health policy, as does the high prevalence of “diseases of civilization,” such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and coronary heart disease, that damage the kidneys and accelerate the age-related decline of renal function. The link between phosphate and progressive renal failure was already suspected and investigated in the early 1980s (24, e10).'