In the 1930s and 1940s, John Weeks was considered the country’s most important exponent of modernism. Weeks was born in Devonshire, England, immigrating to New Zealand in 1892. He studied at the Sydney Technical College (1913-1915) and at the Elam School of Fine Arts from 1921.
Read MoreSeeking further training, he travelled to Europe, attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and in 1925 enrolled at the academy of Cubist painter, André Lhôte in Paris, remaining abroad until 1929. He took a post teaching at Elam art school at the University of Auckland when he returned to New Zealand.
Weeks’ modernist principles emphasised that an artist’s work must express personal development, influencing numerous students, notably Louise Henderson. However Weeks ceased to be an innovative figure in the arts when a fire destroyed 200 of his works in 1949.
He remains important as a painter and teacher, advocating European modernism in New Zealand. Weeks’ work is held in the collections of the Auckland Art Gallery and the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.
