Jean Horsley

{{Infobox artist

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Jean Horsley

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|OBE|size=100%}}

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| birth_name = Jean Alice Horsley

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|02|15|df=y}}

| birth_place = Auckland, New Zealand

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|08|21|1913|02|15|df=y}}

| death_place = Auckland, New Zealand

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| education = Elam School of Fine Art
Chelsea School of Art

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| known_for = Painting

| notable_works = Maori Mere

| style = Abstract expressionism

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Jean Alice Horsley {{post-nominals|country=NZL|OBE|size=85%}} (15 February 1913 – 21 August 1997){{cite web |url=https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/search/search?path=%2FqueryEntry.m%3Ftype%3Ddeaths |title=Death search: registration number 1997/52147 |website=Births, deaths and marriages online |publisher=Department of Internal Affairs |accessdate=6 April 2019}} was a New Zealand artist.{{Cite web|url=http://findnzartists.org.nz/artist/7283/|title=Horsley, Jean|website=findnzartists.org.nz|language=en|access-date=22 September 2017}} Her work is held in the permanent collection of the Auckland City Art Gallery.{{Cite news|url=https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artist/1759/jean-horsley|title=Jean Horsley|work=Auckland Art Gallery|access-date=22 September 2017|language=en}}

Career

Horsley attended the Elam School of Fine Art at the University of Auckland, and in 1934 traveled to the United Kingdom to study at London's Chelsea School of Art.{{Cite web|url=http://www.fletchercollection.co.nz/item.php?id=606&details=1|title=Maori Mere|website=www.fletchercollection.co.nz|access-date=22 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130140243/http://fletchercollection.co.nz/item.php?id=606&details=1|archive-date=30 January 2018|url-status=dead}}

She returned to New Zealand due to World War II and trained as a physical therapist. She continued her interest in sketching and painting, taking lessons from Colin McCahon and through summer schools.

Following the end of the war, Horsley traveled to Japan, South Africa, and the USA. She moved to London in 1961 for seven years, and then to New York, where she stayed for fifteen years. During this time she continued to paint and exhibit.

In 1981, Horsley returned to New Zealand and settled in Auckland.

Horsley's paintings are abstract in style, often working in oils or watercolor. She was influenced heavily by the work of the abstract expressionists, especially artists whose work she was exposed to while in New York, including Philip Guston, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell,{{Cite web|url=http://www.fletchercollection.co.nz/exhibition/16|title=Representation And Reaction|website=www.fletchercollection.co.nz|access-date=22 September 2017}} and Helen Frankenthaler.{{Cite web|url=http://www.fernergalleries.co.nz/default,2589.sm|title=Ferner Galleries {{!}} Jean Horsley|website=www.fernergalleries.co.nz|access-date=22 September 2017}}

Notable works by Horsley include: Maori Mere.

In the 1996 New Year Honours, Horsley was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to art.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-1996|title=New Year Honours List 1996|publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet|access-date=22 September 2017}}

= Exhibitions =

Horsley exhibited regularly with the Auckland Society of the Arts between 1935 and 1938,{{Cite web|url=http://findnzartists.org.nz/artists/exhibition/1/|title=Artists exhibited with Auckland Society of Arts|website=findnzartists.org.nz|language=en|access-date=22 September 2017}} and was included alongside M. Rainier and Freda Simmonds in the 1957 exhibition Three Women Painters. She also held a shared exhibition with Louise Henderson at the New Vision Gallery in 1966.

She exhibited with the Rutland Group,{{Cite web|url=http://findnzartists.org.nz/artists/exhibition/5/|title=Artists exhibited with Rutland Group|website=findnzartists.org.nz|language=en|access-date=22 September 2017}} an organisation formed by students from the Elam School of Fine Art and The Group,{{Cite web|url=http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/heritage/publications/art/thegroup/bibliography/|title=The Group 1927 – 1977: an annotated bibliography – Heritage – Christchurch City Libraries|website=christchurchcitylibraries.com|language=en|access-date=22 September 2017}}{{Cite web|url=http://findnzartists.org.nz/artists/exhibition/3/|title=Artists exhibited with The Group|website=findnzartists.org.nz|language=en|access-date=22 September 2017}} an informal art association from Christchurch, New Zealand, formed to provide a freer alternative to the Canterbury Society of Arts. She contributed works to multiple exhibitions by The Group including in: 1955;{{Cite web|url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/about/library/the-group/group-1955|title=The Group 1955|website=christchurchartgallery.org.nz|access-date=22 September 2017}} 1957;{{Cite web|url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/about/library/the-group/group-1957|title=The Group 1957|website=christchurchartgallery.org.nz|access-date=22 September 2017}} and 1960.{{Cite web|url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/about/library/the-group/group-1960|title=The Group 1960|website=christchurchartgallery.org.nz|access-date=22 September 2017}}

During her time in England, Horsley exhibited alongside fellow expatriates Ralph Hotere, Bill Culbert, and Ted Bulmore.

In 1997 a retrospective exhibit of Horsley's work entitled, Seize the Day: A Tribute to Jean Horsley, was held at the Auckland City Art Gallery.{{Cite web|url=http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collection/object/am_library-catalogq40-21677|title=Seize the day: a tribute to Jean Horsley|access-date=5 November 2017}}

Jean Horsley

Career

= Exhibitions =

References

Further reading