Arthur Gordon Tovey (1901–1974) (known as Gordon Tovey) was a notable New Zealand artist, art teacher and administrator,

educationalist Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

, and writer.

Biography

He was born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1901, the son of Arthur Oiver Tovey, a telegraphist, and Catherine Jane (Youmans) Tovey. His aunt was the painter Charlotte Youmans. He studied art at Wellington Technical College. He started exhibiting in 1922, and in 1924 he took a job as an artist with the Railways Advertising Branch. This work took him to London, where some of his posters for the Southern Railway Posters won praise. In 1930, following his marriage, he moved back to New Zealand, and two years later he began teaching art at the Dunedin School of Art at

King Edward Technical College King Edward Technical College is a former school and technical college in Dunedin, New Zealand. The college was established in 1889 as the Dunedin Technical School when the Caledonian Society instigated night education classes. Through the 19 ...

. He rose to be head of the school in 1937 and became known for innovative programs integrating the visual and performing arts. His students in this period included

Colin McCahon Colin John McCahon (; 1August 191927May 1987) was a prominent New Zealand artist whose work over 45 years consisted of various styles, including landscape, figuration, abstraction, and the overlay of painted text. Along with Toss Woollaston an ...

and

Doris Lusk Doris More Lusk (5 May 1916 – 14 April 1990) was a New Zealand painter, potter, art teacher, and university lecturer. In 1990 she was posthumously awarded the Governor General Art Award in recognition of her artistic career and contributions. ...

. During World War II, he worked on camouflage. In 1943, he became a full-time art lecturer at Dunedin Training College, where he again introduced educational innovations. In 1946, he was appointed the first supervisor of art and craft for the Wellington Department of Education. He was particularly interested in fostering understanding of, and education in, Maori arts, crafts, music, and mythology, and he wrote two books on these subjects, ''Art and Craft for the South Pacific'' (1959) and ''The arts of the Maori'' (1961)."the heART of the matter" BWX Productions (Video 2016), Wellington, NZ. L & J Bieringa He retired in 1966, returning to painting and writing full-time. During this period, he published an epic poem, ''The Twice Born Seed''. He died in Wellington.

Personal life

In 1930, he married London-born Heather Campbell, and they had one child. She had been secretly fostered, with no birth registration, and discovered only late in life that her parents were Grace Blundell Maple (sole heir to the Maple Furnishing millions) and Elidor Campbell, a son of the third Earl of Cawdor.

References

1901 births 1974 deaths New Zealand art teachers New Zealand artists People from Wellington City {{NewZealand-painter-stub