Inscribed 'For competition, Class B, Section 7, Study of Still Life (in oil) by Karaka' in artist's hand on original label affixed to canvas verso

Provenance: Purchased by current owners from George Walker Auctions, Auckland c. 1967

Illustrated: p. 60 GOLDIE, Roger Blackley Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki 1997

Exhibited: GOLDIE - The Exhibition

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, June - October 1997

Museum of Sydney NSW, May - July 1998

Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 1998

Robert McDougall Art Gallery, December 1998 - February 1999

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, March - June 1999 Labels affixed verso

This painting is an important and rare example of Goldie's early work. An inscription on the label verso, illustrated above, confirms it as a study for a still life competition. In 1886, as a sixteen year old, the young Goldie had been awarded a prize for still life painting at the Art Students' Exhibition in Auckland.

Over a century later curator Roger Blackley chose this work for inclusion in the major 1997 Goldie retrospective. The quality of paintings such as Study of Still Life c. 1890, led to Goldie being viewed as a prodigy by his teachers and contemporaries, while paving the way for his years spent at the Académie Julian in Paris.

Whilst Goldie retained a life long interest in the genre of still life, this work possesses the added dimension of the allegorical. The portrait of a young woman displayed on an easel alongside sable brushes, an artist's palette, drying agents and French oil paints combine to tell the story of painting.