While Frances Hodgkins may be the best known of Dunedin's painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, her contemporary Grace Joel also had a distinguished career in London and Paris. Charmian Smith talks to Joel Schiff, author of Grace Joel: An impressionist portrait.
Joel Schiff's 30-year fascination with the work of Grace Joel has finally come to fruition in a book surveying the Dunedin-born artist's life and work, Grace Joel: An impressionist portrait (Otago University Press).
The Auckland mathematician and amateur artist was intrigued by her work when he first saw it in an exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery that was touring the country in 1981.
''They had an impressionist style - not strictly French impressionist but impressionist in her own style.
I started searching for information about her and there was very little except for the Dunedin Public Art Gallery catalogue that went with the exhibition and some brief excerpts in New Zealand art books,'' the American-born author said.
When he retired from lecturing at the University of Auckland about four years ago he started to think about Grace Joel (1865-1924) in earnest.
In the intervening years Dunedin art historians Peter Entwisle and Roger Collins had written articles about her and she had been the subject of a master's degree thesis at Canterbury University, Dr Schiff explains.
However, there were still large gaps in our knowledge about her, for which he believes there are a variety of reasons.
She trained at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in Melbourne, and although her career started in Dunedin, it took off in England and there she mainly associated with Australian artists.
Also, unlike her more famous contemporary, Frances Hodgkins, who wrote numerous letters back to her family describing her activities and thoughts, Joel was less outgoing. Any letters she wrote to her family and friends have not survived.`
