Alfred Henry O'Keeffe (21 July 1858 - 27 July 1941), was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

artist and art teacher, who spent the majority of his life in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, he was one of the few New Zealand artists to engage with new ideas while staying in New Zealand. At this time most adventurous New Zealand painters, such as

Frances Hodgkins Frances Mary Hodgkins (28 April 1869 – 13 May 1947) was a New Zealand painter chiefly of landscape, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. Born in Dunedin, she was educated Dunedin School of Art, then became an art teacher, ...

, went overseas. He has sometimes been described as a Vasari - a recorder of artists and their doings - based upon his published recollections, which are the only first hand published account of that ''milieu''. O'Keeffe was born in Sandhurst, Victoria,

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in 1858. By c.1865 he and his family had moved to

. O'Keeffe studied at the Dunedin School of Art c.1881-86 and later at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

teara.govt.n
/ref> in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1894–1895. He started exhibiting at the Otago Art Society in 1886 and also exhibited with the Canterbury Society of Arts, the

New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts (also referred to as the Wellington Art Society) was founded in Wellington in July 1882 as The Fine Arts Association of New Zealand. Founding artists included painters William Beetham (first president of the As ...

, the Auckland Society of Arts, South Canterbury Arts Society and the Wanganui Society of Arts and Crafts. During these formative years he was a keen member of boating and cycling organisations. The demands of providing for his wife and six children meant O'Keeffe could not always afford to work as a full-time artist. Before going to Paris he managed the Liverpool Arms Hotel in Dunedin. After his return, from 1896 to 1905, he ran the Outram Hotel. He also supplemented his income by teaching art. While living at Outram he took private classes in Dunedin, walking the 14 miles between. He taught at the Dunedin School of Art from 1912 until its temporary closure in 1920. In the early 1920s he taught at the 'Barn Studio' with Mabel Hill. He
1913 portrait
of O'Keeffe is now in the

Dunedin Public Art Gallery The Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds the main public art collection of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located in The Octagon in the heart of the city, it is close to the city's public library, Dunedin Town Hall, and other facilities such as ...

. Four of O'Keeffe's six children predeceased him. His two sons Lawrence and Victor were both killed in 1915 at

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. This experience is commemorated in his best known painting ''The Defence Minister's Telegram'' (1921, Dunedin Public Art Gallery), which shows an elderly man receiving news of his son's death. One of his daughters died in 1917 and another in 1939. O'Keeffe died at his home in Dunedin in 1941 and was interred at Andersons Bay Cemetery. O'Keeffe's finest paintings date from the 1920s and 1930s, however, most critical attention has concentrated on works painted in the first decade of the 20th century, notably ''Roses and Arum Lilies'' of 1906, now in the

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

, an
''The Model at Rest''
of the same year, in the

. His range of subject matter encompassed genre scenes, portraiture, landscapes (especially seascapes) and still life. His work is represented in the

; Fletcher Collection, Auckland;

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...

, Wellington;

Sarjeant Gallery The Sarjeant Gallery at Pukenamu, Queen's Park Whanganui is a regional art museum with a collection of international and New Zealand art. It was closed for 10 years for redevelopment and re-opened on Saturday 9 November 2024. In 2024 it was anno ...

, Wanganui; Christchurch Art Gallery; Aigantighe Art Museum, Timaru;

;

Hocken Collections Hocken Collections (, formerly the Hocken Library) is a research library, historical archive, and Art museum, art gallery based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Its library collection, which is of national significance, is administered by the University ...

, University of Otago, Dunedin; and Anderson Park Art Gallery, Invercargill. O'Keeffe is the focus of the exhibitio
''A. H. O'Keeffe: Light in the Shadows''
at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery from 29 September until 9 December 2012, the first solo exhibition of his works since 1957.

Scholarship on O'Keeffe

To date the five main resources on O'Keeffe are: * Ralph Body, 'The Doyen of Dunedin Art: Alfred Henry O'Keeffe's Late Works', ''The Journal of New Zealand Art History'', vol. 30, 2009, pp. 17–36. * Ralph Body, 'Alfred Henry O'Keeffe in Retrospect: Paint and Personality', MA thesis, Dunedin, 2008. * * Peter Entwisle, 'Alfred Henry O'Keeffe', in ''William Mathew Hodgkins & His Circle'', Dunedin, 1984 * Barry Cleavin, 'An appreciation of A. H. O'Keeffe, painter, 1858—1941'. DipFA thesis, Canterbury, 1966

Images by Alfred Henry O'Keeffe on the Web

Auckland Art Gallery

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Christchurch Art Gallery

Fletcher Collection

New Zealand War Art
*

br>The Defence Minister's Telegram (1921)
*

br>The Model at Rest (1906)

Portrait (1887), Alys Antiques

References

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okeeffe, Alfred Henry 1858 births 1941 deaths Artists from Dunedin Australian emigrants to New Zealand Burials at Andersons Bay Cemetery New Zealand art educators Académie Julian alumni 19th-century New Zealand artists