Unveiling of rare war art at Wellington Cathedral

Unveiling of rare war art at Wellington Cathedral

Rare watercolour paintings and pen and ink sketches by four WW1 servicemen were unveiled in Wellington Cathedral of St Paul on Friday April 17 2015. The ninety works are by Lieutenant Esmond Atkinson and his brother Lieutenant Hal Atkinson of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and Corporal Ernest Casey and Sapper Sydney Higgs of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. They were allservicemen from Wellington and their works are on exhibition at Wellington Cathedral until May 3 at the national Watercolour New Zealand exhibition ‘WW1 in watercolours at Splash’.

Photo by Eva Kaprinay

The unveiling was part of the ceremonial opening of the exhibition in the presence of the Chiefs of the Navy, Army and Air Force. The flags of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and ensigns of the Royal Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy were marched in to the Cathedral. The Dean of Wellington The Very Reverend Digby Wilkinson and John A Cardinal Dew Archbishop of Wellington blessed the artworks in the presence of the artists’ families and Senior students of St Patrick’s College and Wellington College. They were acknowledged as Old Boys of these Colleges by the draping of school scarves over their works. The ceremony was attended by many personnel of the Royal New Zealand Navy as three of the collections unveiled are of WW1 naval engagements, the Fleet and the merchant navy ships that transported the servicemen home to New Zealand when they returned from war 100 years ago.

ENDS

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