Sir Peter Graham Siddell (31 July 1935 – 24 October 2011) was a New Zealand artist.

Biography

Siddell was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and educated at

Mt Albert Grammar School Mount Albert Grammar School, commonly known as MAGS, is a co-educational state secondary school in Mount Albert in Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches students in year levels 9 to 13. , Mount Albert Grammar School is the second largest school in ...

and the

Auckland College of Education The Auckland College of Education, earlier known as the Auckland Training College and the Auckland Teachers' Training College, was a teachers' college in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. It was established in 1881 and was based in the Aucklan ...

. In 1960 he married artist Sylvia Siddell, with whom he lived in Auckland. They had two daughters, Avril and Emily (also an artist). Siddell had painted full-time since 1972, when he held his first solo show. Following this, he took part in many exhibitions in both public and commercial galleries. Many of his artworks depict the West Coast of the

Waitākere Ranges The Waitākere Ranges is a mountain range in New Zealand. Located in West Auckland between metropolitan Auckland and the Tasman Sea, the ranges and its foothills and coasts comprise some of public and private land. The area, traditionally kno ...

, as Siddell owned a second home at Karekare with his family. Siddell's realist paintings are identified mainly with depictions of the environs of Auckland. While his works appear to be records of actual places, his paintings have a subjective component, and might be better described as magic realism than truly realistic. The cityscapes and townscapes in Siddell's paintings are rendered empty, but with the unnerving suggestion of events occurring outside the picture area. In this sense, his work can be compared to the

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

works of

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...

. Siddell's work is held in the permanent collections of all New Zealand major public art galleries, as well as many private, corporate and institutional collections. He was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for community service in the

1991 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1991 were appointments by Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by people of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. They were published on 28 December 1990 for the United Kingdom, N ...

, and a

Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

for services to art in the

2008 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 29 December 2007, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2008. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and a ...

. Following the restoration of titular honours by the New Zealand government in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, Siddell accepted re-designation as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. He was only the second New Zealand artist to be knighted, after Sir Toss Woollaston. In 2008, Siddell was diagnosed with an inoperable

brain tumour A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondary ...

. In February 2011, a comprehensive survey of his art career was published by Random House New Zealand, "The Art of Peter Siddell." Siddell died in Auckland on 24 October 2011.

References

External links

Artworks by Peter Siddell in the collection of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o TāmakiImages of Siddell's art

. '' Art New Zealand'' issue 98.
Ten Dreams GalleriesArtis Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siddell, Peter 1935 births New Zealand painters Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit 2011 deaths People educated at Mount Albert Grammar School Artists from Auckland Companions of the Queen's Service Order