Provenance: Estate of Tom Kreisler, formerly in the collection of George Roth

Exhibited: The 1949 Group Show , Christchurch 26th October - 4th November 1949 Facsimile copy of the 1949 Group Show catalogue accompanies this lot. This iconic painting by Sutton is on the market for the first time since its acquisition in the early 1950s by current owner's family.

The uniqueness of this opportunity is enhanced by preparatory studies of Jim O'Fee's Paddock and verso sketch for Auckland Art Gallery's Nor'wester in the Cemetery 1950. Sutton's hand drawn location map of Jim O'Fee's Paddock is affixed verso. Jim O'Fee's Paddock is part of a seminal series of landscape paintings, including Bruce Creek 1949 Christchurch Art Gallery, and Country Church Series 1950-53, which Sutton produced in the Canterbury and Otago regions on his return from a study trip to Europe in 1949. This proved to be a defining period in Sutton's career, establishing his reputation alongside those of colleagues Rita Angus, Doris Lusk and Colin McCahon, as an artist who captures the unique geographical and architectural nuances of southern New Zealand. Whilst Sutton's vision has largely been framed within the Canterbury School, Jim O'Fee's Paddock offers another set of qualities that provides scope for rethinking his place in the cannon of New Zealand art.

While this painting speaks within a regionalist vernacular, in this particular case the barren simplicity of the undulating hills around Wanaka, it also addresses mans impact on the land. This is a painting that does not simply revel in the sublime vista of this site, it literally and proverbially digs below the surface, to lay bare another psychological depth. This is a land that has been cut, drawn and quartered by the machinery of an increasingly industrialized form of agricultural production. However, there is a latent ambiguity as to whether Jim O'Fee's Paddock is a celebration of New Zealand farming practices, a more subversive analysis of land value, or an opportunity for Sutton to show off his increasingly sophisticated abilities with paint. It is also worth noting that during World War II, Sutton designed and painted camouflage for military installations in the South Island, perfectly summarized in Somewhere Up Country 1944, Dunedin Public Art Gallery. So, Jim O'Fee's Paddock is a highly charged and evocative painting, which on greater reflection reveals an artist coming to grips with a landscape that has changed forever.