Douglas Kerr MacDiarmid (14 November 1922 – 26 August 2020) was a New Zealand expatriate painter, known for his diversity and exceptional use of colour, and involved with key movements in twentieth-century art. He lived in Paris, France, for most of his career.[1]
Douglas MacDiarmid was born inTaihape, in the middle of the North Island of New Zealand, the younger son of Gordon Napier MacDiarmid,[2] country general medical practitioner and surgeon (and former army surgeon onSSMaheno), and his wife Mary Frances (née Tolme), a schoolteacher before her marriage. He was born in his family home upstairs from his father's surgery at 24 Huia Street, Taihape.
He boarded atHuntley School inMarton, andTimaru Boys' High School, then studied literature, languages, music and philosophy atCanterbury University College. His studies were interrupted byWorld War II military service in the army and air force at home. Although he had no formal art training, he was mentored by older members ofThe Group, an avant-garde set redefining New Zealand art and culture that he was closely involved with during his Christchurch years from 1940 to 1946.
While his brother Ronald Diarmid MacDiarmid (1920–2013) followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a doctor, Douglas left New Zealand after the war in 1946 to find his way as an artist, teaching and painting in London and France. After a year back in New Zealand in 1949–50, he returned to France and was based there for the rest of his life, with homeland exhibitions and regular trips back to New Zealand. He died in Paris on 26 August 2020 at the age of 97.[3][4][5]
From 1952, MacDiarmid was a full-time artist in Paris. He also wrote poetry. Not confined to a style, he created landscapes, cityscapes, portraits, figures, abstract and semi-abstract forms, many inspired by his extensive travels, and exhibited successfully in France, London, Athens, New York, and Casablanca.
In 1990, MacDiarmid was brought back to New Zealand for the country's sesquicentennial celebrations, and declared a New Zealand living cultural treasure by the government of the day. His portrait was painted byJacqueline Fahey at the time for the newNew Zealand Portrait Gallery.[7]
MacDiarmid painted the portraits ofRita Angus[8] andTheo Schoon[9] among others. His paintings are owned by French and New Zealand governments, the City of Paris, and public and private collections across the world, including New Zealand, Australia, the United States, France, England, Greece, Switzerland, Morocco, South Africa, China, South America, Korea, and Tahiti, as well as the collection of the lateDuke andDuchess of Windsor. In 2016, two of his paintings sold through Art+Object for a record price (for the artist) of more than $27,000 each as part of the Tim and Sherrah Francis Collection, the highest grossing art auction in New Zealand history.[10]
A series of MacDiarmid's line drawings were used to illustrate a little volume of poems by New Zealand Poet Laureate 2015–2017C. K. Stead.[11] Published by theAlexander Turnbull Library, the signed, limited edition book was titledIn the mirror, and dancing (2017) and hand-pressed by Brendan O'Brien.[12] The book was launched on 8 August 2017 inWellington, with the assistance ofGregory O'Brien to celebrate the conclusion of Stead's laureateship.[13]
Senior art historian Associate Professor Leonard Bell, of the School of Humanities at theUniversity of Auckland, noted MacDiarmid's name missing in overviews of the history of painting in New Zealand[14][15] and has welcomed the launch of his biographyColours of a Life - the life and times of Douglas MacDiarmid by Anna Cahill (2018).[16][17]
1951: Work shown at Bienniale de Menton salon exhibition, Gallery Pierre Mondal, London
1952:Aquarelle, Galerie Morihien, Paris (first solo French exhibition). Fifteen New Zealand Painters, Irving Galleries, Leicester, presented byHelen Hitchings as first exhibition of contemporary NZ art in Britain. Also New Forms Gallery, Athens, Greece.
1953: Chelsea Private Gallery, London; Galerie Royale, Paris
1958: Galerie du Colisée, Paris, Galerie du Claridge, Paris. Pierre Montal Gallery group exhibition, London
1959: André Brooke's Gallery 91, Christchurch. John Leech Gallery, Auckland. Beaux Arts group exhibition, Paris, works selected for L'Exposition du Prix Othon Friesz, Paris
1960: Commonwealth Week, Midland Bank, London; Gallery Pierre Montal, London;Redfern Gallery, London. Galeries Felix Varcel, represented NZ in New York Norwich International Exhibition, London
1961: Architectural Centre, Wellington
1963: Galerie Chardin, Paris; New Forms Gallery, Athens
1964: Opening of NZ House, London (the first painter to exhibit there). Represented NZ at Stamford International Exhibition, Connecticut, USA
1965: Galerie 259 Raspail, Paris, with sculptor Dambrin. Represented at NZ painting and ceramics exhibition, New Zealand Embassy, Paris. John Leech Gallery, Auckland (also 1966, 1967, 1971, 1973)
1966: Ensemble exhibition, Palmerston North Public Art Gallery, NZ. Group exhibition of NZ Paintings & Pottery, NZ Embassy, Washington DC
1968: Retrospective MacDiarmid Exhibition, Wellington; Galerie Berri-Lardy, Paris. Represented NZ at Commonwealth Exhibition, Bristol, UK
1999–2002: Ferner Galleries, Auckland & Wellington, NZ, MacDiarmid 50th anniversaryRetrospective 1948–1998 – From the Artist's Studio, followed byCelebrating the artist at 80 retrospective to coincide with the New Zealand launch of art history bookMacDiarmid by French art historianNelly Finet[20]
2003: St Tropez, France, solo exhibition for 5th Australia/New Zealand Film Festival
2004: NZ Embassy residence, Paris
2006:Hocken Collections,Dunedin NZ,Douglas MacDiarmid: A Very Generous Gift; St Tropez, France 11–15 October. This show supported the release ofA Stranger Everywhere[21] documentary at Australia/New Zealand Film Festival; Otago University Auckland Centre; NZ Embassy exhibition, Paris
2008: New Zealand Embassy, Paris, also 2011 exhibition in aid ofChristchurch earthquake reparation
2013: Montmartre, Paris exhibition with expatriate NZ sculptor Marion Fountain; Jonathan Grant Gallery, AucklandDouglas MacDiarmid: An Artist Abroad
2017: University of Auckland's Gus Fisher Gallery exhibited work covering a period of six decades, gifted to the University of Auckland Art Collection by Douglas in 2015.
2018:Colours of a Life: Douglas MacDiarmid,New Zealand Portrait Gallery. Coinciding with the publication of his biography by the same name, this was an exhibition curated by Anna Cahill and Jaenine Parkinson to celebrate the life and art of MacDiarmid, including a survey of his portraits and figurative works that span from realist figuration through to geometric abstraction, and showcasing his vibrant use of colour and the network of relationships the artist formed to places and people throughout his life and career.
^Trevelyan, J. "'The wild country of my Taihape': a painting by Douglas MacDiarmid".Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 11 December 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
