Chapel Lunette Panel

Lunette Panel by Richard Oliver Gross
Photo Credit Cathy Currie

The lunette panel above the door of Waikumete Crematoriums chapel 1, is one of three sculptures that £650.00 was set aside to pay for in the 1949 work specifications during the planning process of the building of the new crematorium for the city of Auckland. [1] It was sculpted by renowned local artist Richard Oliver Gross [2] and appears to depict the Greek goddess Ananke or Necessity spinning the universe. She draws threads from the heavens on to the spindle at her knee. In the myth of Er she spins with sirens singing in harmony through the strands of time and fate as souls journey though them from death, and with their destinies spun, to be reborn. [3]

Lillies carved on the panel growing at Ananke’s feet are inspired by Job 14:2 “ He cometh forth like a flower: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.” [2] [4] And trumpeting angels seem to herald the cycle of life.

Louis John Steele - Artist

Steele was born in Surrey, England on the 30th January 1842, the son of a surgeon. He was educated in Surrey and an art school in Paris but in his early 20’s went to Florence to further his studies in painting.

Louis John Steele - self portrait
Credit: Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki -
copyright use granted.

By the time Steele came in search of health to Auckland, about 1886, he was moderately well known, having exhibited not only at the Royal Academy but also at the Salon in Paris and the Exposition internationale de Lille.

In Auckland he set up a studio in the Victoria Arcade in Shortland Street and opened a class for life studies and antiques. He took great interest in the Maori and recorded their activities in several fine paintings. These paintings were sometime very large and painted jointly with another artist, for instance his former pupil C.F. Goldie collaborated in “The arrival of the Maori in New Zealand” painted in 1898. He was an active member of the French Club in Auckland and always dressed in slightly Bohemian fashion, as he might have done in Paris, wearing elaborate hats, velvet suits and even a fob watch.

Although Steele was alone when he came to New Zealand, he had married Marie Louise Alexandrine Piatti and they had two sons: Ernest and Louis. Miniatures of the two boys were exhibited at the Royal Academy.

As his health declined in his later years he moved to the Costley home for the aged poor, which became the Auckland Infirmary, then eventually Greenlane Hospital.

When there was an auction of the contents of his studio in 1917, it was claimed to be the most valuable art collection ever offered in the dominion. The proceeds of the sale may have gone to repay debts, as after his death on the 12th of December 1918 his estate was valued at under £170.

Louis Steele made an important contribution to the art life of Auckland. He excelled as a teacher and had steeped himself in New Zealand life. As a history and portrait painter he left many notable works and as an engraver he introduced skills not previously seen in New Zealand.

Anglican Division E, Row 9, Plot 23


Compiled by Geri Eccles - Discover Waikumete

Sources:
John Stacpoole. 'Steele, Louis John', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1993. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2s42/steele-louis-john
https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artwork/2322/self-portrait

The Phenomenal Mr Birley

It is very special that the Birley grave is not only surrounded by unique wrought iron fencing, but also the headstone marking the grave itself is embellished with dainty lead fuchsias, in recognition to the incredible creativity and skill of engineer and blacksmith, Peter Birley who crafted exceptional iron pieces like no one else in New Zealand during his time.

The Birley family headstone, located in Wesleyan Divison A, Plots 11 - 13.
Showing the decorative border of fushia's archng along the top.
Photo by Cathy Currie.

Sunshine - In Memory of Robert Adams

Headstone of Robert Adams
Wesleyan Division A, Row 6, Plot 10.
Photo: Cathy Currie

The talented young musician Robert Adams succumbed to Typhoid which ravaged Auckland during the summer of 1888, plunging communities into fear with the uncertainty of not knowing whom would next be afflicted, and praying it would not strike down a loved one.

The outbreak hit the Ponsonby area hardest, where Bob resided in Ponsonby Road, and was involved in running the music shop ‘Adams Brothers’. [1] [2] [3] Although the cause of the dramatic increase in numbers of citizens suffering with the fever was not officially established by the health inspector despite complaints regarding practices of the local tramways and abattoir businesses, it was a widely accepted view that the spread of the disease was due to the Auckland stinks – poor drainage and hygiene practices that caused an abhorrent smell which was intensified by the summer heat and contaminated the water supply. [4] [5] [6]

It was reported in the New Zealand Herald that during March the Auckland Hospital was accommodating over 50 percent more typhoid cases than they had done previously that year and the numbers were expected to continue to rise until Auckland’s sanitation was improved. [7]

Karl Wolfskehl - “Exul Poeta” (Poet in Exile)

When Karl Wolfskehl arrived in New Zealand in 1938, aged 69, he had just one suitcase and a mistress half his age. But he carried a thousand years of European history with him - and he looked like it. 6 foot 3 inches tall, with long flowing hair, rolled cravat, and wide-brimmed hat, he seemed like a man from another age. And although the New Zealand Herald reported that a “German-Jewish poet and author” had arrived, few in the dominion had heard of the good Dr Wolfskehl. While the Herald called him a “visitor”, the truth was he was a refugee - a Jew in fear of his life who had fled the anti-semitic scythe spreading across Europe. And he was a man in mourning for his beloved homeland, Germany. “From the very day when the ship left the harbour in Europe, I knew it, I cried for it, I grieved for it, since then, every moment, everything I do is under the sign of despair”.

Karl Joseph Wolfskehl was born in Darmstadt, Germany in 1869, into a wealthy Hebrew family of bankers whose forebears had come from Italy in the Middle Ages. Wolfskehl considered Italy his second home, and thought of himself as a blend of Jew, Roman and German. Karl was a physically imposing figure but was very short-sighted from a young age. He did not have to work for a living so, like many wealthy young men of the time, he not only dabbled in writing poetry, he lived the life of a poet.

In 1898 he married his Dutch wife Hanna de Haan and they had two daughters: Judith (born 1899) and Renate (born 1901). When he fled Germany in 1933, fearing for his life along with many other writers, he left his non-Jewish wife and daughters safe in a mansion at the foot of the Black Forest.

He then settled in Florence, where he began a relationship with a young Jewish intellectual named Margot Ruben (although he remained on good terms with his wife Hanna). They remained in Italy for 5 years until the rounding up of Jews began in Italy. Wolfskehl then got out an atlas and found the furthest place in the world from Europe (New Zealand).

For mainstream, short-back-and-sides New Zealand the long-haired poet was a strange apparition. The sight of the tall, long-haired man being led along Queen St by the young attractive Margot prompted more than a few stares. To protect Margot’s good name they always took separate rooms and told anyone who asked that she was his niece. 

Hebrew A,  Row 2, Plot 101: 

Karl Joseph Wolfskehl (78) 1948 

KARL WOLFSKEHL

EXUL POETA

Photo Cathy Currie

According to Margot, Karl got along well with working-class Kiwis and delighted in living in a land of true democracy in which everybody is equal to another. He also developed a circle of friends among New Zealand writers and artists, becoming a close friend of Frank Sargeson. But by the mid-1940’s the near-blind, ailing poet began to rely on his friends too much which soured many of his friendships, including Sargeson‘s. Margot moved out of their flat in 1943, although she did stay loyal to him to the end.

After the war Wolfskehl made plans to return to Europe to see his wife and daughters again but was devastated to hear that Hannah had died of a blood clot. He never stopped loving her.

As his blindness and general health worsened, he became more bitter and lonely, but also more resigned to his fate. He died on the 30th June 1948 from an intestinal blockage caused by diverticular disease.


Source: Paul Gittins - Epitaph II
               Image: Cathy Currie

Presented by Geri Eccles - Discover Waikumete