James Nairn sketching on a Wellington beach

A special feature of Efil Doog Art Gallery is the occasional exhibition of our Pumpkin Cottage Artists collection.

Recently we arranged a permanent monument to these painters on the original site of Pumpkin Cottage at Silverstream. It was here that many talented Wellington artists painted and sketched under the initial leadership of James Nairn.

Established in 1892 the "Nairn School" continued using the cottage for many years and it was again used from 1942 - 1949 by the Wellington Sketch and Studio Club which later became known as the Wellington Art Club.

Pumpkin Cottage was demolished in 1980 even though there was a long battle to save it. The following is a brief outline of Pumpkin Cottage history.

Nugent Welch and fellow members (Ducks) outside Pumpkin Cottage

In the Eighties of the century before last there began in Glasgow the most important movement in modern Scottish painting. The artists members of this school were to become known as the "Glasgow School". Many of them achieved fame, not only in Britain, but also in Europe, and in less than twenty years, works, by various members of the "Glasgow School" were acquired for the national collections in Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Prague and the Luxembourg in Paris.

Associated with these artists (among whom were Sir James Guthrie, McTaggart, W. Y,. Macgregor, E.A,.Walton, James Paterson and the brilliant water-colourist, Arthur Melville) was James Mclachlan Nairn. Born near Glasgow in 1859, he became interested in art at an early age. Rated highly by his colleagues, he was elected a member of the Glasgow Art Club and his work was purchased for the city's art gallery. From Scotland he went to Paris for a time and studied at the Julian Studio.

On account of ill health, his ties with Scotland were severed and so it was that, in search of a more suitable climate, he came to Dunedin on the "Forfarshire", arriving on January 2nd, 1890. After delivering art lectures in Dunedin and exhibiting work executed on the voyage, the artist went to Mataura for a short period and thence to Wellington.

The late Mrs. M.E.R. Tripe describes thus her "discovery" of Nairn:- "I saw, in an unexpected doorway in Manners Street, Wellington, a notice: 'Exhibition of Paintings in Oil and Water-colours by James Nairn'. I crossed the road to investigate. Those paintings that remain in my memory are a water-colour of scarlet azaleas on a dark background - lots of background and a few vivid bits of blazing colour and a girl in a sailor hat, with green shadows on her face. But there were many others and one felt that at last one was seeing something worthwhile."

Summer Idyll - Oil. James Nairn

In 1891 Nairn was appointed an art instructor at the Wellington School of Design (later the Wellington Technical College Art School). Endowed with a happy nature, generous and big hearted, he soon became a favourite with the students and the virility and sincerity of his work began to influence artists, not only in Wellington, but throughout the country. At the School, life classes were first established under Nairn but these classes were the cause of considerable unpleasant criticism of the School, owing to the want of knowledge of the public generally, as to their usefulness.

In 1892, depressed by the fact that artists had little voice in the management of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Nairn and a group of enthusiasts founded the Wellington Art Club; lectures were held, sketches were exhibited and criticised and members were encouraged to draw from life. Each annual exhibition of the club proved a great success.

It has been said that Nairn was not fully understood in New Zealand and that it was only in the Old World that his talent could have been appreciated at that time. Rendering in a broad manner being almost unheard of, it is scarcely to be wondered at that there were only murmurings among the uninitiated. Indeed, his work was considered "an atrocity" and he was not considered suitable as an art director of the School. There were others more discerning at that time and Nairn was given his chance and he very quickly proved himself to be all that his friends claimed.

For a time, among a certain section, he was the most abused painter of the day. In a letter to a great friend he wrote (quoting a newspaper critic): "I shall always make a point of trying to outrage the taste of the ordinary public. I do not want them to like my work."

Nairn and his artist friends were fond of sketching in the Hutt Valley, so he decided that some sort of semi-permanent abode in the district was called for - a place where canvases might be left and the artists shelter from unexpected "southerlies". An ancient little cottage at Silverstream was chosen and was destined to become the headquarters of Wellington artists, attracted to the Valley as a sketching and painting ground.

Pumpkin Cottage - Water colour. E.Rosa Sawtell

"He rented an old, unpainted, wooden 'But and Ben', hoisted a yellow pumpkin atop of a long pole on the roof and called it 'Pumpkin Cottage'. I know J M N was wildly excited about it - morning bathes and catching eels for breakfast in a stream nearby", says Mabel Hill (Mrs McIndoe) in a letter. After a time the pumpkin fell away and the artist made a yellow drawing of it on the cottage.

From the time he took over the cottage (about 1894) until his death in 1904, Nairn spent much of his time there and painted some of his finest pictures in the vicinity. "Nothing delighted Nairn more than the study of broken sunlight and shadow as he saw them in the clumped trees at his favourite sketching ground, the delightful little rural settlement of Silverstream, in the Hutt Valley", wrote Charles Wilson in Art in Australia.

A large oil, "Changing Pasture, Noon"' painted in the Valley, when exhibited in 1892, was "The Picture Of The Year" and was purchased by the Earl of Glasgow.

The painters of Pumpkin Cottage over the years have been known as:- Nairn School. Silverstream School. Wellington Art Club. Pumpkin Cottage Group. Wellington Sketch and Studio Club.

James Nairn - Water colour. by Mabel Hill

Many younger generation New Zealand artists were influenced by the Nairn School. Amongst them were Dorothy Kate Richmond, Margaret Stoddart and Frances Hodgkins who were aware of European artistic direction following the arrival of James Nairn (a recent member of the Glasgow School). Nairn was closely followed by another modernist of the time, the Italian Girolamo Nerli.

Nugent Welch - Oil M.E.R.Tripe

If you know of other artists that painted at Pumpkin Cottage we would be very pleased to know of them. Likewise we would very much like to expand our collection of paintings and obtain any relevant photos of the cottage and artists. Any further information on the subject you may have is of course also of interest. We would also be pleased to know if there are any errors in our present information.

These artists were significant contributors to the history of Upper Hutt and Silverstream. It's through their efforts that so much of the original features and beauty of the district has been preserved for posterity. Probably no other district in new Zealand has been so vigorously and faithfully portrayed by such a talented group of artists over so many years.

For a year or two the cottage was home to the local identity, Pop Deller, of the area called Sunbrae, when he returned to Silverstream with an English bride. It served earlier as a waggoner's cottage, and Thomas Cotter lived in it in the 1860's and '70's.

Alma Fesche used to say "wouldn't it be terrible to live there" when she drove past Pumpkin Cottage in the 1940s, never dreaming she and her late husband Harry would have five very happy years there themselves.

Another couple to live in the cottage was Bob and Patricia Burns. Two years ago Mrs Burns told the Leader that they lived there from about 1956 to 1959. Mr Burns worked for St Patrick's and painted the cottage white with a red roof and facings. She remembered they pumped water from a well in the gardens.

Pumpkin Cottage was built in the 1860's and was used by the Wellington Art Club from 1894. After Nairn's death in 1904 the Club used the building intermittently until 1949 when there were plans to have it established permanently as an artists retreat. However this failed and the cottage fell into disrepair and in spite of protest, was finally pulled down in 1980. The last known painting of Pumpkin Cottage was made by Darcy Nicholas in 1975. This painting is also part of the Efil Doog Pumpkin Cottage Collection.

We understand that prior to the demolition of the cottage which stood on St Patrick College land , Father Bliss on behalf of the school offered both the building and the land free to the Historic Places Trust but were advised that the gift could only be accepted if the school was prepared to fully restore the cottage. St Pats, after some consideration declined and the offer lapsed. Subsequently four men working on behalf of St Pats School began demolition at 4 am one morning and the building was demolished by 6 am. The rotten timber being burned and the small quantity of good timber recovered was taken away by trailer.

Apparently the building had been offered to the Silverstream Fire Brigade as a possible practise fire but the offer was wisely and readily declined in the light of public sensitivity and possible outcry.

Memorial Stone and plaque in celebration of Pumpkin Cottage and its many artists.
Installed on the original site 1 Jan 2000 by Ernest & Shirley Cosgrove.

email:efildoog@xtra.co.nz

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