Gaston De Vel, Shot Over River, 1972, oil on canvas, 680 x 570mm (framed)

Estimate $800 - $1200 

Belgian-born and European-trained, Gaston De Vel brought a rare direct link to classical and Impressionist traditions when he arrived in New Zealand. A graduate of the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, he studied under Alfred Bastien, who had worked alongside Claude Monet and John Singer Sargent. De Vel offered New Zealand audiences and younger painters a vivid sense of Impressionism’s handling of light, colour and atmosphere.  He produced his paintings outside – en plein air.  De Vel’s landscapes were admired for their freshness, and his influence was recognised with the Kelliher Art Prize in 1969. His rendering of Shot Over river from the early 1970s is highly characteristic of the lively paint handling that he became well known for.