Des Helmore | |
|---|---|
 Helmore in 2011 | |
| Born | 1940 (age 84–85) |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Alma mater | Ilam School of Fine Arts,Christchurch |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | New Zealand Arthropod Collection |
Desmond W. Helmore (born 1940) is a New Zealand artist and illustrator, known both for his fine art and for his scientific work depicting insects, not least illustrating theNew Zealand Arthropod Collection. One of the country's most noted and prolific biological illustrators, over 1000 of his illustrations of insects were published in research papers from 1976 to 2006.
Helmore was born inTakapau,Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, and lived there on a farm until age 12.[1] Interested in drawing since childhood, he attendedChrist's College inChristchurch, and then theIlam School of Fine Arts at theUniversity of Canterbury from 1959 to 1962, where he was taught byRudi Gopas,Russell Clark, andBill Sutton.[1][2] His fellow students at Ilam includedDick Frizzell,Tony Fomison, andJohn Panting. In his survey of New Zealand art, Frizzell described Helmore as someone who "seemed to have already graduated from somewhere else. All that quiet abstract pondering. I [Frizzell] couldn't believe he knew what he was doing, because I certainly didn't."[3] At this time Helmore, throughbeatnik culture, became interested inZen Buddhism andTaoism.[1] He won a life-painting prize, and graduated in 1963 with a Diploma of Fine Arts (Hons).[4] After working in London from 1967 to 1969, Helmore returned to New Zealand and lived inAuckland for over 40 years.[2][5] He moved toHastings in 2018.[5]
From 1967 to 1969 Helmore worked as a geographical illustrator atUniversity College London where he learnt the technical aspects of creating maps and illustrations for publication. Upon returning to New Zealand in 1970 he was employed as an entomological illustrator atCanterbury Museum, Christchurch, working alongside the painterTony Fomison.[5][6] From 1971 to 1975 he worked as a graphic artist and graphic designer forNZBC Television andTV1 News in Christchurch, creating lettering, illustrations, and title sequences, but was unhappy with the daily deadlines.[2][4]
In June 1975 Helmore moved to Auckland and worked as an entomological illustrator for the Systematics Section of Entomology Division,Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, until 1992, then for Invertebrate Systematics atLandcare Research from 1992 to 2006. Over these years he created over 1000 insect illustrations for scientific publications, particularly theFauna of New Zealand series.[7] The illustrations were created using a stereomicroscope with acamera lucida, and were drawn two to three times larger than final print size on illustration board with technical pens (or sometimes onscraperboard).[2] Each took three or four days to complete.[4]
His drawings have been described as "magnificent"[8] and "exquisitely executed"[9] by entomologists. The scientistSir Charles Fleming wrote, "Des Helmore's drawings supply the need for pictures of entire insects felt by many New Zealand amateurs and interdisciplinary students, to an artistic standard few can hope to emulate."[5] The entomologist Anthony Harris said, "Desmond Helmore's superb illustrations rank with the very best in the field – such as those ofArthur Smith,A. J. E. Terzi, andT. Nagatani."[10]
Helmoreus, a genus ofweevils, is named in his honour, "in recognition of his contribution to New Zealand entomology as a scientific illustrator".[11] In 2014 a species of beetle,Sagola helmorei, was also named in his honour.[12]
Since leaving art school Helmore has continued painting. His work has been described by Dick Frizzell as having a "strangely dense atmosphere"[3] and critic T.J. McNamara has referred to its "lonely vertical shapes" and "dim and strange" light.[13] After being influenced by constructivism and cubism in the 1960s, he began painting depictions of rural landscapes after about 1985. Since 2000 his work has focussed on depictions of urban environments.[1] His first solo show was in 1964 at theHawke’s Bay Art Gallery,Napier. In 1965 he received a Merit Award for the Manawatu Contemporary Art Competition, which was followed in 1966 by a solo exhibition at the Manawatu Art Gallery (nowTe Manawa) inPalmerston North.[14][13] While living in London he had a solo show at theB. H. Corner Gallery in 1968, and in 1972 he was a finalist in theBenson & Hedges Art Awards.[14] Helmore has exhibited since 1990 in solo and group shows at the Auckland galleriesLopdell House,Claybrook,Anna Bibby,Jane Sanders Art, andnkb Gallery. He has also exhibited atRamp Gallery in Hamilton, theHastings City Art Gallery, and, in 2017, atSpa_ce Gallery, Napier.[5]
Reviewing his 2011 solo exhibition at Jane Sanders Art, forThe New Zealand Herald, T.J. McNamara said:[15]
He is an artist who cultivates enigma. He takes ordinary places, landscapes and buildings and combines them into paintings that are truly strange yet curiously familiar... Helmore is an old-fashioned painter. His draughtsmanship is impeccable as witnessed by his accurate scientific illustrations but there is no virtuoso flourish of drawing in his paintings: his forms are simple and clear. Rather his virtuosity is shown in his handling of paint. Skies and surfaces are deftly brushed in and the handling works in with his individual palette of dark, shadowy colour to give tension and life to the work. The paintings in this exhibition have an extra energetic factor. Forms shatter into the sky and bits and pieces scatter about. Sometimes this makes the structure too open but generally the works are held together by strong compositions of angles, checks and balances... These are fine paintings, carefully made, evoking wastelands and familiar territories. They evoke emotions but with no subtext of social comment.
His work is in a number of collections, including those ofChristchurch Art Gallery,[16] theUniversity of Canterbury,[5] theHocken Library, theCanterbury Society of Arts, and Hawke's Bay Art Gallery.[5]
{{cite book}}:|journal= ignored (help) (contains 22 drawings of a variety of insects, with additional information about each drawing and an introduction on the purpose of the illustrations.)
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