Lest We Forget

The Suter’s collection began in the late nineteenth century so its development covers both World War I and II, yet it contains few works that refer to these periods of history.  However one work by Archibald Nicoll OBE (1886-1953) stands out.

In the 1920s and 1930s Nicoll was one of Canterbury’s most celebrated landscape and portrait painters, and after the second world war he was engaged to paint portraits of some of New Zealand’s war heroes including Charles Upham and Sergeant Alfred Clive Hulme who were both recipients of the Victoria Cross (VC), the Commonwealth’s highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy. 

Nicholl’s portrait of Hulme was given to the Suter Gallery by the Nelson City Council in 1982.  Hulme is depicted in a relatively casual pose, seated in a chair and although dressed in a NZ Army uniform, his VC is ‘pinned’ onto the upper left corner of the painting.  This approach to the portrait conveys a character that sees himself as an ‘everyday Kiwi bloke’ yet the actions that his VC recognises were risky in the extreme, possibly best described as undertaken ‘with reckless disregard for his own safety’.

Archibald F NICOLL OBE (1886-1953) Sergeant A C Hulme VC 1946; oil on canvas 910 x710mm; ACC: 640 Collection of The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatu Presented by the Nelson City Council in 1982

Prior to the war, Hulme was a farm labourer in the Nelson region and he enlisted for service abroad with the second NZ Expeditionary Force and was posted to the 23rd Battalion. Involved in the Battle of Crete in 1941, and possibly prompted by the death of his brother killed in action, Hulme, over a period of eight days began operating behind enemy lines, sometimes even disguising himself in enemy camouflage uniforms.  He successfully stalked and killed 33 enemy snipers.  In addition he led parties of men from Maleme airfield from an area held by forward positions, and at Stylos he penetrated enemy lines, killing a mortar crew of 4 men and putting the mortar out of action.  On 28 May 1941 he was seriously wounded and evacuated.

The artist Nicolls was himself no stranger to the perils of warfare, having enlisted for WWI with the Field Artillery of the NZ Expeditionary Force leaving for overseas service in June 1915.  By 1916 Nicholl was seeing active service in France and was badly wounded on 24 September 1916 at the Battle of The Somme, resulting in his right leg having to be amputated.

In another twist to the Hulme story, in 2007 Hulme’s 9 war medals were stolen from the National Army Museum in Waiouru.  These and other war heroes’ medals were recovered in 2008, thanks in part to a reward for information posted by Michael Ashcroft and Nelson based businessman and philanthropist Tom Sturgess.

Julie Catchpole
Director