The artist who made the work is an enigmatic figure in Hawke's Bay, very little is known about her. In the 1950s Trollope exhibited alongside the likes of Rita Angus, Colin McCahon and Doris Lusk and this is most definitely a very good painting. But somehow Trollope seems to have disappeared from the limelight.
Roy is on record as saying this work by Joan Trollope is one of his very favourites in the collection. For obvious reasons too, if not for the subtle and elegant palette, then for its subject which celebrates the special, but often invisible fruit picker workforce here.
Working in a Cubist manner, Trollope joins other artists in the middle of the 20th century who absorbed Cubist ideas into their painting. These ideas are recognisable by the way the volume of the bodies is emphasised in the painting, and the flat shapes used to describe curved forms such as figures and hats.
Cubism was initiated in Europe in the early 1900s by Pablo Picasso and his friend Georges Braque.
The Cubists and their ideas changed the course of art history in regard to painting and the reason that artists continue to reflect on that style 50 years later is that Cubism is very much about the practice of painting, what is observed by the artist and how that is put on the canvas. Trollope is a serious artist who is clearly engaged in 'what painting is' at a deep level.
This wonderful painting will be on view with a number of other artworks by artists that Roy championed, loved or adopted. Also showing in Remembering Roy are works by a large number of artists whose lives were impacted by him.
Through all these artworks you can get a sense of the man, what inspired him and what impact he had here and I suggest you get along to see the show when you can.
Remembering Roy is running at Arts Inc Heretaunga for the Hawke's Bay arts Festival from October 4-30.
Toni MacKinnon is art curator at MTG
