CAROLINE BAY
William Gibb (1859-1931)
Timaru Harbour, 1888
Oil on Canvas
Aigantighe Art Gallery Collection 2002.10
William Gibb was born at Innellan, Scotland and immigrated to Christchurch in 1876. He received his art training from his father, John Gibb (1831-1909), and then studied at the National Gallery School in Melbourne from 1877 to 1879. He returned to Christchurch in 1882 and painted portraiture and landscapes.
In Timaru Harbour_, Gibb has painted a snapshot of the shipping industry and the newly built wharves. Previously, ships anchored offshore and used smaller boats to transport their cargo ashore. But by the late 1860s, it was decided that this was restricting Timaru's growth. In the 1870s and 1880s large concrete southern and northern breakwaters were constructed to shelter the area that would become the harbour. In 1880 the first wharf was built, followed by a second wharf in 1886.
Gibb has captured this scene of commerce with The Bruce (the central ship with area and black funnel) and The Taniwha (the small dredge moving out of the port) and other sailing ships contrasted against the backdrop of a purple sky and the swelling of seemingly electric blue ocean.
