CAROLINE BAY - MARINE PARADE
Russell Clark (1905-1966)
Caroline Bay Timaru During a Southerly Gale, c.1950
Acrylic on board
Aigantighe Art Gallery Collection 1995.22
Caroline Bay Timaru During a Southerly Gale captures a stormy view of the Bay Hill, looking back along the sea wall at the iconic Hydro Grand Hotel. The building was designed in 1912. It recalls the architectural styles of British seaside towns such as Brighton and Bournemouth and was built when Timaru’s Caroline Bay was known as the Riviera of the South. The Hydro Grand operated as a popular hotel, bar and restaurant for many decades, but was demolished in 2017.
Russell Clark was born in Christchurch and attended the Canterbury College School of Art from 1922-28. Clark spent much of his early career as a commercial artist, producing advertisements and cartoons for publications across the country. In 1947, he became a teacher at the School of Fine Art in Christchurch, and throughout the 1950s he began to take a more experimental approach to his own art, drawing from the modernist styles and ideas which were popular amongst Christchurch artists at the time.
