Rolled up in an attic or tucked away in a box in a wardrobe, Thomas McLean hopes images of two large murals Dunedin artist Rona Dyer painted are out there somewhere.
McLean, associate professor of English at the University of Otago, has a penchant for researching the lives and works of little known figures in literature and art.
"The figures that at one time are seen as important and significant, who had an influence on culture of the day then disappeared — Rona, I think, is one of those."
After he moved to Dunedin in 2005, he remembers occasionally seeing her works at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and was always struck by how "beautiful and accomplished" they were.
She was clearly not a big figure in New Zealand art and when the news came in 2021 that she had died, McLean, and many people interested in art, were surprised that she was still alive.
"That was my initial motivation.
"I felt she was a significant artist and there have been a few scholarly articles written about her but not much.
"It felt like her passing was the right time to celebrate a long interesting career."
This year is the 100th anniversary of her birth and the 75th anniversary of the publication of a book Engravings on Wood by Dyer. The book was published by Caxton Press.
"It gives a sense of where her career was at, at age 25.
One of the surprising things he learnt of her career was that in the 1940s she was commissioned to create large murals or panels for two Dunedin book stores of the day.
The first was for Modern Books in Moray Pl — most recently occupied by Dog with Two Tails — and had a theme of the history of reading.
The book shop was a favourite haunt for Dunedin’s literati — Charles Brasch helped run it, Janet Frame wrote about hanging out there in hopes of seeing notable literary figures and Dyer’s works were for sale there.
"This used to be a really important cultural centre in 1940s Dunedin.
"Colin McCahon showed his work there in the ’40s."
"Both of those, as far as I can tell, no longer survive.
"The mural would have been probably painted over. The Alice in Wonderland, I don’t know. It could be rolled up in someone’s attic but the building is gone."
McLean believes the murals are worth remembering as they are an important part of the city’s cultural heritage, yet there are no photographs of them.
He has searched for images of these murals in all the usual places, such as the Hocken Collections and the Otago Daily Times, but has not been able to find any. Even though the Hocken holds some of the records for Modern Books, there are no photographs included among its papers.
"We have no idea what these works looked like. It would be fantastic if in someone’s attic or closet there are some 1940s or ’50s photographs of these works, of the interiors of these book stores."
The murals have been written about before, including an article on an exhibition of three women artists, including Dyer, in 1999, and references in letters in the Hocken. One in particular was written by an art collector to Colin McCahon on the day the Modern Books mural was displayed for the first time.
For McLean, researching these types of figures is fun, as he gets to fill in the gaps of stories.
"It’s never complete."
He put together his research on Dyer in an article for Art New Zealand with the aim of bringing together all available information about her in one piece.
"Hopefully someone else can come along and take it a few steps along."
In doing this sort of research, McLean has been struck by how quickly a life can disappear even if letters, emails and documents are left behind.
"There are some articles in the ODT, these bits and pieces of paper left and there is the art that is left and that is probably the most important thing."
"In the case of Rona Dyer there are further challenges that she faced, one in that she was a woman in an era when it was still very difficult for a woman to make a career as an artist."
While Rita Angus and Frances Hodgkins managed to do so — albeit with help — they were the exception rather than the rule.
"So many married and had families to worry about or had parents they were expected to care for, or for whatever reasons were not able to have a full career as an artist."
Dyer made her name as an engraver, but later in life painted and did photography.
"I think that [engraving] is a form of art that has gone out of fashion. You just look at them and think that is from a carved piece of wood? The level of skill required for this kind of work is extraordinary, but it’s not appreciated the way it was 80 years ago."
McLean’s research has come out of his professional specialty in 19th century literature, with most of his work on writers who were very famous or influential but have fallen off the radar.
He has done a lot of work on Scottish writer Joanna Baillie, who was friends with Sir Walter Scott, admired by Lord Byron and was thought by some to be the greatest playwright since Shakespeare.
"I wouldn’t go so far, but they are interesting. Because she was so well-known, a lot of her letters survived, so I put together edition of her letters that had not been published before. It is fascinating to see the life of a woman playwright in the 19th century and the challenges she faced."
McLean has found similar stories occurring over and over again, such as British artist Alice Mary Chambers. He picked up one of her works in an auction thinking it was "pretty terrific", but had no idea who she was.
"So I started digging. Who is this person that makes this lovely image but I’ve never heard of her? Gradually an outline of a life and career came out."
He published his research and a few years later the Huntington Gallery in California acquired one of her works and in the work’s description wrote there has been new interest in this artist, referencing his article.
"It was kind of awesome to know that your work had this bigger influence. In that case bringing a British artist in the pre-Raphaelite style, almost forgotten, but bringing together all that I could find out, which encouraged a major gallery to purchase one of her works, was really affirming."
