
Philippa Iles
Senior Sale Coordinator
£1,500 - £2,000
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Edward William Payton was a photographer and painter in New Zealand. He was born in Warwickshire and studied at the Royal College of Art, as well as in Antwerp and Paris.
In early 1883 he arrived in New Zealand. Starting from the southern town of Bluff he travelled far and wide in the country, making sketches and photos of the countryside and Maori people he encountered. He chose to settle in Auckland and in 1887 he held his first exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery. Given the inscription on the stretcher, one wonders if this painting was included in this exhibition and listed as 'No.3'.
In 1888 Payton published 'Round About New Zealand', a folio of etchings of Auckland and Rotorua. He became the first director of the Elam School of Art in 1890, a post which he held for 35 years until his retirement 1924. In 1930, he travelled to Europe and purchased 134 paintings and about 100 prints to add to the Mackelvie Collection in the Auckland Art Gallery, which was done on behalf of the trustees of the collection.
In later life Payton settled in Rotorua. He died in Tauranga at the age of 85 on 2 October 1944.
Auckland Art Gallery has 9 works and 1 photograph by Payton in their collection.