It was into this context that British-born artist Jenny Wimperis arrived in 1880, travelling to Ōtepoti with her sister Frances Wimperis to join their sister Susanna, who had immigrated in 1876 with her husband, George Joachim.
All three sisters were painters, exhibiting in England before they moved to Aotearoa, and Jenny had a clear ambition to pursue a professional career in art. On arrival, she set out on drawing expeditions, exploring her new home with a clear and direct eye.
Wimperis’ painting Dunedin from the Hill (1885) offers a view across Ōtepoti Dunedin that takes in the rural and coastal fringes of the developing city.
Where many of her contemporaries approached the landscape with a misty-eyed romanticism, Wimperis makes a feature of things that are new to her — tī kouka, flowering harakeke and native bush all painted with curiosity and attentiveness. Currently on display, it can be viewed alongside an earlier painting of the same scene, building a picture of a young artist coming to understand her new home and environment.
Wimperis was a direct contemporary of Frances Hodgkins, and part of a group of significant female artists who emerged from Ōtepoti at end of the 19th century. Dunedin from the Hill also holds a strong claim to being the earliest example of a New Zealand painting by a female artist to enter the Dunedin Public Art Gallery collection.
Both artists are celebrated along with their peers and contemporaries, in the current exhibition Groundbreakers: The new art of Ōtepoti at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Lucy Hammonds is a curator at Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
