Provenance:
Private Collection, Auckland since painted

Illustrated p. 204 - 205, The Art of Peter Siddell, Peter Siddell,
Michael Dunn, Godwit 2011

Peter Siddell's Auckland paintings are immediately recognisable by their hard-edged realism; their breath-taking sharpness. Gulf is a work in which several elements of visual truth meet with a palpable human absence - typically of Siddell, there is no more than the implication of civilisation.

Based on the Chapel of Faith in the Oaks at Waikumete Cemetery, the artist has cast the scene against a magnificent backdrop of sea and sky looking out towards Rangitoto.

This formidable architecture of chapel, monument and stone is meditative and multi-layered. Heightened by the presence of Siddell's classically dreamlike conception of clouds, the work not only refers to Hauraki Gulf, but also to the figurative gulf between old and new; physical and metaphysical.Sir Peter Siddell has long been recognized as one of New Zealand's leading realist artists. Auckland born Siddell was educated at Mount Albert Grammar School and the Auckland College of Education. He began painting professionally in 1972. In 1990 Siddell was made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order and was knighted in 2008, becoming the second only New Zealand artist to receive this honour.

Siddell's realist paintings are identified mainly with depictions of the environs of Auckland. While his works appear to be records of actual places, his paintings have a subjective component, and might be better described as imagined realism rather than truly realistic. The cityscapes and townscapes in Siddell's paintings are rendered empty, sometimes with the suggestion of events occurring outside the picture area. In this sense, his work may be compared to the metaphysical works of Giorgio de Chirico. In 1978 Siddell won the Air New Zealand Travel Award and the Benson & Hedges Supplementary Art Award.