Robert Dickerson
Wynyard Station
The Antipodean group, which Dickerson joined at its inception in
1959, proclaimed that members were concerned "above all with people
and their relations to one another and nature". A self taught
artist, Dickerson began to make his mark during the 1950s with his
haunting depictions of people in a state of psychological or
physical isolation. In Against the Tide, Dickerson refers
to a letter to Bernard Smith in which he said of his work: "My aim
in painting is to paint life as I see it or feel it, people and
their reaction towards living today."
Wynyard Station features four figures seated on a bench
while a lone figure on the left strides away into the distance. The
female figure on the right is busy with her sewing, this is a
recurring theme in Dickerson's work, probably inspired by
Dickerson's first wife Innis who was an accomplished seamstress.
The composition is very simple and the rendering of the figures
almost two dimensional. The use of sombre colours, the angularity
of the facial features with their haunted or staring eyes, all help
to emphasize the solitary existence and emotional isolation of the
people depicted.