PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Auckland
Purchased from Fine New Zealand Paintings & Foreign Paintings, Drawings and Prints, Webb's, 22/11/1995

These paintings make for a compelling, double sided pair. They were painted in Greymouth, most likely between 1956 and 1958 when two additional works depicting the same tower view were completed. Both bear Woollaston's emblematic earthy palette and gestural, impastoed brushwork.

On one side is a study of buildings, there is an absence of human presence. A view of a tower looking out from a veranda over closely stacked arches, architectural intricacies and different physical spaces. The sky surrounding the tower leads the eye towards its apex, commanding the crowded forms of architecture into formation around it. In this painting, the viewer meets readily with what Woollaston described as the lean and tilt of the different planes and volumes in contrasting directions.

On the verso, there is a portrait in which the viewer finds themselves positioned above the sitter. Hovering over a young man whose discomfort is palpable, it presents as a cropped moment charged with tension and intimacy.

Through these contrasting lenses, Woollaston demonstrates his ability to shape the viewer's experience around an awareness of their gaze. In their own way, both paintings encourage the viewer to consciously inhabit a single vantage point, to adopt a way of looking which is made meaningful by the artist's adroit treatment of perspective - whether that involves peering into the eyes of a stranger, or deciphering the forms of a townscape.