A traditional artist, not abstract, noted for his watercolour and oil paintings of the mountains of New Zealand's South Island. Many of his commissioned work are of mountain ranges. He is descended from the pioneering Deans family of Riccarton. The name "Riccarton" comes from a village in Ayreshire, Scotland where the Deans came from. Austen was raised in the County of Selwyn between Darfield and Sheffield, north of Christchurch on one of the farms that resulted from the division of the estate of Homebush Station. Man of the Mountains.
Allister Austen Deans was born to Norna [Nora] nee Knight and Alexander "Allister" Deans 2nd December 1915. His parents were married at St. Andrews, Darfield 3rd Nov. 1914 by the Rev. Mathias. The bride, Miss Nora Knight, second daughter of Mr and Mrs Henry Arthur Knight, of Racecourse Hill. The groomsmen were Messrs M. Deans and C. Archer. Austen's father was killed, 4th Oct. 1917, in World War I when Austen was two. His mother carried on the family farm until Austen and his brother, David McIlraith Austen Deans, b. 22 July 1917, were old enough to take over. Austen was educated at schools for the well-heeled Cantabrian: Medbury, Christ's College 1930 - 1933 and University of Canterbury School of Art, gaining Dip. Fine Arts (N.Z.) in 1938. Archibald Nicoll was the major influence on his painting but he also studied with Cecil Kelly and the sculptor Frank Shurrock. He was set to study at the Slade School in London but the war broke out. Insight.
Austen Deans said the most memorable year of his life was 1939: "I had finished my studies at the School of Art and I was getting to my feet and realising that art really was my passion and that I wanted to paint and to be an artist full-time."
A 1955 "From Mesopotamia," landscape,
oil on a panel, 50 x 76 cm (h x w), impressionism style
by A.A. Deans. On Ebay in 2016. Original H. Fisher & Son gallery of Christchurch label affixed en
verso. The strong landforms give the work structure and the stream provides a
nice balance for the focus. William Packe painted here in 1868 and Edwyn Temple in
1884 and Aston Greathead in the 1974. The view in March 2016.
Seeing something in Nature that intensifies my joy of being alive, I want to try to reproduce it in such a form that when I see it again I re-live my joy at that divine moment. By so painting I hope to share my own delight with other people. - Austen Deans, 1967.
For those who know the area will miss Austen Deans and his wonderful paintings of those far away hills. He painted not to say "look at me," but "look at how extraordinarily beautiful New Zealand is," he said. He had a great love for the mountains. This subject matter dominated most of his landscape paintings. He would climb to reach the right viewpoint. Deans along with Peter McIntyre were interested in naturalism and rejected abstraction and modernism as not being applicable to the New Zealand art scene.
Lake Opuha, Fox's
Peak and the
High
Claytons by
A. A. Deans,
watercolour
1999, 22 x
52.5cm.
He would
often have a
dark area in
the
foreground.
Typical of
his work.
Press
27
March 1935
Page 3
Fifteen
pictures on
view at the
Canterbury
Art
Society's
exhibition
have been
sold since
the opening
of the
exhibition
last
Thursday.
The highest
price
received was
80 guineas,
for a
painting of
the Rakaia
Gorge by
Archibald F.
Nicoll.
Other sales
that have
been made
are:—"The
Road to
Mount Peel,"
Phyllis
Drummond
Sharpe,
8gns; "Mount
Enys from
Coleridge,"
A. A. Deans,
6gns;
"Summer
Sunshine
Otira
Valley," E.
Baird
Friberg,
7gns;
"Aorangi,"
Esther S.
Hope, 15gns;
"Roses,"
Margaret O.
Stoddart,
15gns; "A
Rocky
Shore,"
Margaret O.
Stoddart,
6gns;
"Kaikoura
Coast," Rata
Lovell-Smith,
5gns; "A
Garden on
the Hills,
Christchurch,"
Lucretia M.
Johnson,
l0gns;
"Roses," A.
H. O'Keeffe,
15gns;
"Stacks,
Morning
Light," Etta
Mansfield,
8gns; "After
Rain Near
Wanaka," W.
Basil
Honour,
7gns; "Near
the
Entrance,
Botany Bay,"
Cedric
Savage,
8gns.
Press
26
March 1938
Page 18
CANTERBURY
ART SOCIETY
ANNUAL
EXHIBITION -
NEW ZEALAND
LANDSCAPE by
F.J.P.
Naturally
one turns to
landscapes
first. Mr A.
A. Deans, in
“The Road to
Erewhon.” It
is a
glorious
subject, a
section of
that part of
Canterbury
back country
of which,
once anybody
has glimpsed
it, he
thereafter
wants to say
to every
stranger
from abroad
and to a
good many
New
Zealanders
too, “There,
that’s New
Zealand!
Leave your Rotoruas and
Waitomos and
Chateaux to
tourists,
but see all
you can of
this
Canterbury
back
country.”
The subject
of the
picture is
vast:
mountains,
valleys,
shingle-bed,
river, and
tussock. The
colour is
brilliant,
and, one
feels, not
to be met
elsewhere.
Indeed, the
whole
picture is
convincing,
particularly
that gleam
on the
water. By
comparison,
other
pictures of
this kind in
the show are
either
fluffy or
empty. Mr
Deans has
the feel of
this country
in his
bones, and
whatever may
be thought
of this
picture
finally
(some may
think that
it has here
been
over praised),
there can be
no question
of its
vigour.
Here, New
Zealand lies
all before
you like a
map. An
unusual and
illuminating
remark.
New
Zealand
Herald
18 May 1938
Page 18
A Canterbury
contingent
shows the
influence of
a higher
light key in
that
province
than in
Auckland.
For example,
there are
fewer
nuances of
colour in
the
Canterbury
foothills
than in the
Auckland
hills, as
the
paintings of
Mr. A. A.
Deans serve
to
illustrate.
A. Deans reveals an unusual gift for drawing the anatomy of mountains.
WW2
His mother, who had been widowed by Passchendaele was particularly keen her son be given a job. He volunteered for the 2NZEF, entered Burnham Camp on 5th October 1939, and posted to the 30th Battalion, and in 1941 got the job of painting the Greek campaign in the role of assistant war artist to Peter McIntyre. Lance Corporal A.A. Deans was in the intelligence section of the First Echelon to Egypt. He was mainly involved with drawing maps and says he found plenty of opportunity to paint while in Maadi Camp just outside of Cairo. He saw action in the Middle East with the 20th Battalion, appointed Assistant NZ War Artist, just two days before being wounded in the Battle of Crete, during an attack on the Maleme Airport, in May 1941, captured, and sent to Kokkinia Hospital a P.O.W. hospital at Piraeus, near Athens, Greece, then a P.O.W. camp at Genshagen in 1943, Austria and later Stalag XXA, in Poland. Supplies of painting material came through the Red Cross. He sent 120 of his paintings with an International Red Cross worker out of the POW camp and some of his works were exhibited in England, and some sent to his mother in Morven (at least 30 including a self-portrait). At the end of the war, in the middle of Austria, Deans liberated himself from a POW camp with the help of a Maori POW who had appropriated a German army truck and with a bunch of their mates travelled through Switzerland to France for three days to four and had a good time. Deans was shipped back to England but had to wait six months to get back to New Zealand, while he gave evidence at the trial of a collaborator.
Evening Post, 8 August 1941, Page 7
Geneva Red Cross confirms the following soldiers as prisoners of war in Greece:
DEANS, Alister Austen. T/L/Cpl. Mrs. A Deans, Morven-Darfield R.M.D. (m.)
CRABBE, George William, Dvr. Mrs. M. Crabbe, Wall Street, Waimate (w.)
DELURY, James Lawrence, Pte. Mrs. J. Hayhurst. 196 Church Street, Timaru (s.)
WORTHINGTON. James Allen, Dvr. Mrs. E. Worthington. 19 William Street, Timaru (m)
Evening Post 7 January 1942 Page 8
Her Excellency Lady Newall was present at Christchurch on Monday afternoon at a large gathering of wives and mothers of men of the forces who are missing or prisoners of war. An encouraging address was given by Lady Newall, who was shown a collection of some thirty paintings by Corporal A. A. Deans, who is a prisoner of war, these being lent to the Art Gallery, where the meeting was held, by his mother, Mrs. Alister Deans, Darfield.
Evening Post, 21 October 1944, Page 9
Opening the fifty-sixth annual exhibition of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in the Art Gallery, D.I.C. Building. On inspection of the exhibits Mr. Watson said, all would agree that they were not unworthy of New Zealand artists and were a fair and representative cross-section of New Zealand art of the present day. He specially commended to attention the pictures by Austen Deans, painted in a German prisoner of war camp, and described Deans as one of the most brilliant of the younger New Zealand artists.
Evening Post, 20 October 1944, Page 4
Visitors to the official opening of the annual exhibition of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, to be opened at the D.I.C. Gallery this evening, will find in the pictures much to interest and admire. A highlight in the exhibition is furnished by the talented New Zealand artist Austen Deans, who when last heard from was a prisoner of war at Stalag XXA. His works are in oils and water colours, and have been done under most difficult and unkindly conditions. Included in the collection of ten paintings is a Polish prisoner, with a mandolin, with sorrow lining his gaunt face. The artist has also included a portrait of himself. Scenes around the prison camp are shown, and a gem in the exhibits is the water colour "Kokinia," a simple and beautiful nocturne. Mr. Deans has sent over 100 of his paintings to the International Red Cross at Geneva and some of his works have been sent to England, some to his mother in Morven, Canterbury, through the good offices of the New Zealand Internal Affairs Department, which has helped Mr. Deans to receive painting materials.The Bugush Box, Western Desert 1941 oil on canvas 53 x 81 cm signed and dated lower left: A.A.D 1941. Austen Deans said "Then the Greek campaign intervened and I lost track of it. When I arrived home after 4 years as a POW I found the painting had been sent back to New Zealand by a good friend together with my oil kit and brushes".
He became well known,
he painted in the army, first in
Egypt and later in prisoner of war camps where his style and outlook underwent a
complete change. The change of scene liberated him and enabled him to
interpret his new surroundings with a swift, vivid, confident brush.
Back in Canterbury
When he arrived back in New Zealand, Austen went back to painting and became a member of The Group in Christchurch in 1946. While working on the farm he met Elizabeth Marie Hutton of Darfield whose family lived in the district. He was offered a loan, a war bursary, to continue his art studies, so they married in January 1947 and travelled to England with their first son and Deans studied art at the Sir John Cass College (1948-50) (affiliated to the University of London) before returning home late in 1950 and bought 25 acres at Peel Forest where he built a home designed by architect Paul Pascoe with a spacious studio and raised a family of seven boys. Austen had enough of a name to support them by selling paintings. Liz set up a Welsh Mountain Pony stud and leased more land, while Austen painted his beloved mountains. In 1962 he won the Kelliher Art Prize and in 1963 and in 1970 was placed second. In 1995 he was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for his services to art. He once had a chalet up at Mount Cook. "I don't know why, but the back country has always fascinated me and in most cases, the higher the mountain, the more fascinating it is," Deans said in a conversation with Pat Teahan in 1994. Teahan wrote "his aim was to bring back as clear a memory as possible of the scene before him - particular in regard to his mountain paintings." He climbed Mt. Cook in 1974 at age 59. His painting On the Road to Tekapo captures the view on the road to Tekapo of Mt. Cook with a cloud near the top, perfectly. He lived at Chawton, Geraldine and has a son Nicholas. Nick Deans became a artist, sculptures, and sold his work and paintings by his father at the Alpine Gallery, 74 South Audley, England. Deans climbed Mt. D'Archiac at the head of the Rangitata Valley five years after climbing Mt. Cook. In 1981 Austen travelled to Antarctica to paint. In 1998 Austen and his brother David reached Copeland Pass when both were in their eighties.
Austen also wrote one poem and probably his only one. Daybreak is in a Geraldine anthology by Jan Hill published in 2009. Only six lines. Rhyme scheme aaabba
Austen Deans lived at Peel Forest so he was an artist who was very familiar with the South Canterbury area.
"I started painting because of wanting to learn to climb mountains, from my childhood home at Morven, [near Sheffield in North Canterbury]. I went out to study the ridges on Mt. Torlesse and made drawings of it to help myself see it a bit better in case I was able to climb to it. That's what started me off really because I found that I made quite a good job of it." he said. He began painting Canterbury landscapes at the age of twelve. The painting was what kept the family going, Deans maintains, but the farm, 5212 hectares, added the luxury items. "We lived off the painting. The farm managed to produce enough money to take us all on skiing holidays in September, and it paid for a certain amount of petrol and things like that." he said in the Press 24/10/2007.
No more shall I see, on a day of clear weather
Far range upon range to infinity dwindle
Snow crowned and ice girdled,
all slumbering together,
Arrowsmith and Erewhon
D'Archiac and Tyndall
Arnold Wall
Mt. Peel Cemetery. He was still actively painting en plain
air and exhibiting in 2011. He had a stroke ten days before his
death at age 95. His funeral was held at St Mary's Church in Geraldine
on Saturday 15th Oct. 2011. He had a folio of works that capture the
timelessness and beauty of the New Zealand landscape.
Alistair is the Gaelic form of Alexander which means
'defender of mankind. Has other spellings as it was often Anglicised as Alaster,
Alastair, Allister, Allistair.
Allister (Gaelic). Alister (Scottish). Alexander which has long been a popular
name in Scotland. A strong name.
His father -
Alexander also known by the name "Allister"
Alexander born at Homebush in 1890 s/o Catherine Edith nee Park and John Deans. Allister formerly of Waddington, sheepfarmer spent four 4 years in the ChCh BHS Cadets and five years in the Territorials (CYC). James Deans of Homebush, sheepfarmer, brother to 2nd Lieutenant Alexander Deans No. 27693 in the 3rd C.I.R., 21st New Zealand Reinforcements, and Fulbert Cave Archer of Christchurch, solicitor were the Executors of Alexander's Will and Codicil. F.C. Archer (1890 - 1953) was the s/o Amy Charlotte (nee Radcliffe) and Fulbert Astley ARCHER.
Allister entered camp and was attested at Trentham on 30th May 1916. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 3rd July 1916. On the 19th January he embarked at Wellington with the 3rd Battalion, Canterbury Regiment, "H Company" and sailed for England where he disembarked at Devonport on 29th March 1917. He left England for France on 28th May 1917 and served in the field until his death in Belgium on 4th October 1917. 2nd Lt A. Deans was the fourth surviving son of Mrs J. Deans and the late Mr John Deans of Riccarton and was in his 27th year. Before he enlisted he was farming at "Homebush." He was an officer in the 1st Mounted Rifles (CYC) and when he found there was no vacancy in the Mounted Rifles he offered his services in any capacity, and he was serving as an infantry officer when he met his death. He leaves a widow and two young children. Wife Mrs Nora Deans c/o Mrs F. Harris, Basford Hall, near Leek, Staffordshire, England late Morven, Waddington, Canterbury, N.Z. Brother John Deans, Coalgate, Canterbury. Jane Mcilraith and John Deans were the immigrant ancestors to New Zealand and settled at Riccarton Bush, ChCh. She only had one son, John Deans II as her husband died in 1854. John Deans II had 12 children, 9 reaching adulthood including Alexander aka Allister.
Sun 30 October 1917 Page 2 [This was late news. Later his body was not identified and his name is inscribed on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, panel 2]
Private advice has been received stating that Lieutenant Alister Deans, who was wounded in the face and thigh, is in in hospital in France.
The two headstones below are at Kimberley Cemetery on at the intersection of Kimberley Rd and Auchenflower Rd, there is nothing there now, the school closed years ago. Kimberley Rd runs across country from Darfield.
The Archer family.
Austen's wife Liz died suddenly in June 2004 and in January 2009 Austen married lifetime friend Margaret Alpers (nee Cregoe, previously Alpers) at Riccarton House. Margaret's grandfather, Fulbert Astley Archer (1859-1911), was the manager of Dalgety & Co. He had married Amy Charlotte Radcliffe (1858-1937) of Derriford, Plymouth at the Fendalton church (later St Barnabas) in 1888. Fulbert A. Archer's father, of Timaru importers Miles Archer & Co. was F. Archer and he died 28 Nov. 1904 in St Gothard, Paignton, Devonshire. His grandparents, Edward Archer lived at Trelaske, Cornwall. Burke's.
Star 1 August 1896 Page 5
Messrs H. Matson and Co's land saleroom in Cashel Street was filled to overflowing to-day, on the occasion of a large portion of the well-known Riccarton Estate being submitted to auction. The property together with a portion of the Homebush was offered on account of Mr John Deans, by Messrs Dalgety and Co., in conjunction with Messrs H. Matson and Co. After Mr Conway Matson had read the conditions, Mr F. A. Archer proceeded with the auction, offering the larger sections varying from one to five acres first.Fulbert Astley Archer died in 1911, aged 52. There were three children: Fulbert Cave Archer (1890-1953), Stephen Radcliffe Archer (1891-1915) and Hester Amy Archer (1901-1952). His son, Stephen, a Lance Corporal in the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, was killed in action at Gallipoli on 22 June 1915, aged 23. Hester Archer, married Julian Plomer Cregoe and Margaret Deans is their daughter. The Press. In 2007 and at the age of 92-year-old Austen was a guide at Peel Forest which he calls "an oasis at the end of the Canterbury Plains." In 2010 Austen and Margaret spend a fair amount of time at Margaret's home in Christchurch, 46 Memorial Ave. Austen liked to get back to his home at Peel Forest as often as possible. He considered himself very lucky to have a great painting companion in local artist Ben Woollcombe. "There's still lots of paintings to be done around here."
Ben Woollcombe wrote Austen Deans made a resolution early in life that when the sun shone he would be out working and work he did. Watercolour was his preferred medium in winter, changing to oil paint in summer when water colour would dry too quickly for his liking. He like nothing better than getting up high in the Rangitata Valley or some such place and painting all day. Retiring to a hut with wood smoke bellowing and lean sack bunks sagging only after the last deep shadows had enveloped all before him. Sharing stories from decades before mellowed by whiskey and the smell of venison stew over the fire. Having been a prisoner of war Austen wouldn't waste any scraps of mouldy cheese or out of date food that many would toss. He considered it all substance for his long fitful life.
In 2008 when he was guest artist at the annual Watercolour New Zealand exhibition he held an impromptu demonstration of watercolour painting with his friend Ben Woollcombe of Peel Forest. Austen borrowed paints, brushes and paper and stroked the paper, layering colours to build up washes of the blacks, browns and blues that he used in his high country landscapes. He was generous with his time and commitment to passing on his knowledge in watercolours.
"A distinguished New Zealand realist painter of the landscape
tradition" John
Coley, a former director of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, praised Deans
mastery of the watercolour medium. In his works you can feel the warmth of the
sun on his back, and the chill in his face as he faced the mountains capturing
the shadows as
they played across the slopes. Working with a well worn easel he used a wide
palette of colours to lay down the ochres and oranges of the tussocks and a
spectrum of blues for snowy faces deepening into shadowy valleys.
The sun is up.
Pictures by Austen Deans, by A.A. Deans. A.H.&
A.W. Reed 1967. First edition, 330 x 252mm (13" x 9"), hard covered, 64pp of
heavy quality paper, 20 hand tipped-in full page coloured plates, dj, art
monograph. Autobiographical account of the author's life and art. A lot of
the paintings/plates in this book are of the high country.
From the Beginning : Chronicles of a County : by Phyllis Kerr, Geraldine, 1976. The front of the dust jacket is a reproduction of A.A. Deans' painting of the Upper Rangitata Gorge country, and of Rata Peaks, the author's home for more than twenty years.
Capturing Mountains - the Life and Art of Austen Deans, by Nathalie Brown, published by Wily Publications in Nov. 2010. 168pgs. 25 x 25 cm. Large soft cover. His biography. Deans is one of the region's living treasures. He wasn't a very ambitious climber - I just liked being in the mountains and I still do,- Deans said. His interest in the "form and beauty of mountains began when he was about 12. I really started trying to look at what I had in front of me." His relationship to Jane Austen is set out in his biography on page 18. "Austen Dean's connection to the great English novelist Jane Austen comes through his mother Nora (Norna) Knight. Jane Austen's brother Edward (1767 -1852) was adopted in the early 1780s by his father's rich and childless cousins, Thomas and Catherine Knight. While he always maintained contact with his natural family, Edward took the Knight surname and eventually inherited their estates of Godmersham in Kent, and Chawton in Hamphshire."
[Alexander Deans married Nora Knight d/o Henry Arthur Knight. Mr A.C. Knight s/o the Rev. William Knight, of Steventon, Hants, who came to the colony in the year 1852, in the Samarang. Shortly after his arrival he with his elder brother, the late Mr Richard Knight, father of Mr H. A. Knight, of Racecourse Hill, took up a run in the Selwyn Valley, which they called Steventon, after their old home in Hampshire. About 1856 A.C. Knight disposed of his share to his brother, and purchased a farm in the swamp below Prebbleton.
Jane Austen was born at Steventon Rectory, Hampshire, on 16 December 1775. Edward Austen Knight (7 October 1768 – 19 November 1852), born Edward Austen, was the third eldest brother of Jane Austen, and provided her with the use of a cottage in Chawton where she lived for the last years of her life. His son Rev. William Knight (1798-1873) surname at birth was AUSTEN, born 10 Oct. 1798 in Godmersham, Kent. William assumed the surname KNIGHT in 1812. In 1812 due to a stipulation in Catherine Knight’s will, Edward Austen changed his legal name to Knight. William son of Edward AUSTEN Esq. and Elizabeth was baptised 16 October, at Godmersham. Jane Austen died July 18, 1817, Winchester, UK, aged 42 and was buried in Winchester Cathedral on July 24, 1817. At 21 she commenced writing Pride and Prejudice. She was the creator of the domestic novel and her aim was to show how really interesting were common events of everyday life, prim, proper and precise. Her characters all move in a circumscribed circle and her works are valuable as history and pleasing as fiction. She did for the English novel what Shakespeare did for drama. By a Lady. Austen Deans called his house at Peel Forest, Chawton. "Hampshire" is often abbreviated in written form to "Hants."
Austen Deans A Retrospective, by Pat Teahan. Publisher: [Christchurch, N.Z.] : CSA Gallery, 1994. 2 editions published in 1994. 12 unnumbered pages, illustrations (some color), 15 x 21 cm. Written from conversations with the artist, April 1994. Published in conjunction with Austen Deans Retrospective Exhibition, June 1994.
The Art of War: New Zealand war artists in the field 1939-1945 by Jenny Haworth. Hazard Press
Another
self portrait.
South Canterbury Artists: a retrospective view. Published by the Aigantighe Art Gallery in association with the South Canterbury Arts Society in 1990. The Aigantighe Art Gallery in Timaru holds have five of Deans' paintings in their collection as of 2014.
A A Deans Art Trust Collection, W.T. Macalister Author: W.T. Macalister 45 paintings sold in 2013
McCormack & McKellar 190 Lot auction includes 25 works consigned on behalf of CoCA (Centre of Contemporary Art), and we are thrilled to be offering 15 works by AA Deans, with 11 from the AA Deans Trust and other works from private collectors. Sale day 28th March 2018.
2015 prices
Aigantighe Art Gallery poster "Austen Deans: Reunion; a retrospective exhibition of 60 years' work solely from private collections" 14 December 1996 - 2 February 1997
How many paintings did A.A. Deans paint in
his life time? Probably in the thousands.
Here
he painted three paintings," The The Minarets; AAD; 1969; 667" in two days under
extreme conditions. York St. Gallery, Timaru
has 35 of his
paintings as of March 2017 [Nov.
2018] - the majority watercolours and here in
2014 and possibly a little artist's licence
used around foothills/ranges.
2018
York St. 2009.
Art Records
pg 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
AASD had 355 of his images as of March 2017 and 379 painting listed in Nov.
2018 pg1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
What Comes First? Width or Height? Landscape or Portrait? Tall or wide? When stating a painting’s size put the height measurement first and then the width. Fine art is listed as hxw in centimetres or inches. The standard for all newspapers in Australia is height by width and photos have long been presented as height by width (as in 8×10). Remember to use straight quote for inches not the curly quotes marks. Don't assume the smaller value is the width.
The prolific Austen A. Deans luminous landscapes interpret
the local countryside as well as any. 134 paintings and counting ...
H xW
Southern Alps watercolour 65 x 100cm Arrowsmith Range watercolour 101 x 65 cm The Road to Erewhon watercolour Aorangi watercolour From Red Tarns Looking towards Mt Sefton watercolour Cloudy Peak, Rangitara Gorge oil on board 90 x 61 cm Mt d'Archiac oil/canvas 85 x 80 Mt. Sefton Storm on Tasman oil on board 39.5 x 50 cm Peel Forest Four Peaks, Dull Day Hall Fence Firey Peak Four Peaks Self portrait Mt. Peel Nor'wester oil on board 37 x 50 Lynn Creek watercolour 35 x 53 cm signed AA Deans Pool, Te Moana Gorge oil on board 33 x 48 Mt Peel from Ruapuna watercolour 56 x 38 cm Mt Peel from Ruapuna oil 135 x 80 cm Mt Peel from Maronan Road oil on board 39.5 x 59.5cm Mesopotamia Station oil on canvas 69 x 89 cm head of Rangitata Mackenzie Spur, Mount Peel oil on board 38 x 75 cm Mt. D'Archiac, Mt Cook NP oil on canvas 69 x 89 Rangitata Looking Towards oil on board 34 x 54 Across the Two Thumbs Mt Somer oil on canvas 55.5 x 70 cm from the Mt Peel Terraces Rockscape with Mt Sibbald oil on board 55.5 x 81 cm Little Mt Peel & the Lookout oil 53 x 35 cm Rata Hillside oil on board 42 x 37 Broadleaves, Peel Forest oil on board 20.5 x 41 Lemon Wood watercolour Lichen - Peel Forest oil on canvas 74 x 48 cm Storm Brewing watercolour Towards Duntroon watercolour 56 x 75 October Snow, Godley River oil on board 48.5 x 119.5cm Iona, Scotland oil on board 159 x119fr Summer Surrey watercolour untitled Mt Worsley watercolour Glacier on Park Dome Mt. Green Castle near Salonika watercolour Canterbury Plains The Plains from Mt Peel l.r. brushpoint 52 x 73 Verso: No. 74 Macmillan Brown Lib. Untitled watercolour pine trees in front, downs, cliff face Chawton, Peel Forest watercolour Mt Hutt watercolour 87 x 105 Mt. Torlesse Summer oil on board 50 x 65 1939 Bush Scene watercolour 73 x 60 1939 Field Firing, Cave watercolour 13 x17 1939 Landscape [Mt Peel] w/c on paper 32 x 52 1939 Macmillan Brown Library Mountains and Fantails 1947 Totara Tree, Peel Forest oil 48.5 x 55.5 1947 Peel Forest Abstract 1947 The Drive, Morven 1947 The Red Hat 1947 New Zealand Native Bush oil on board 27 x 47 NZ Bush watercolour 64 x 97 cm $2750 -$4000 y2020 Mt Potts watercolour 66 x 35 cm Potts River watercolour 85 x 104 cm Orari Gorge oil on board 36 x 55.5 1952 Mesopotamia oil on board 63 x 87 1953 Lincoln Uni N. end level 1 Library Early Summer Chawton Homestead watercolour 87 x 72 cm 1955 Peel Forest Tree Study, Peel Forest oil on board 1955 Aigantighe South Canterbury Landscape 1955 Mt Peel watercolour 45 x 30 cm 1955 Little Mt. Peel watercolour From Mesopotamia oil on panel 50 x 76 cm 1955 height x length . Orari Gorge oil on canvas 122 x 98 cm 1956 Aigantighe Bush Clad hills, Peel Forest watercolour on paper 1957 Aigantighe Clarence River Poplars 20 x 15 1958 Native Clematis watercolour 55 x 75 1958 Trademe Mar.2017 Marjorie Chambers CHCH Hosp DON bought it at original showing Mt Pakanui watercolour 1959 Canterbury scene watercolour on paper 52 x 75 1961 height x width Hocken Library Puddingstone Creek -Rangitata Valley watercolour on paper 1961 Aigantighe Arrowsmith Range from Mt Peel Stn watercolour 54x35 1961 Trade-me Jan. 2021 starting price $2800. Original price $75. Kea Hut and Mt Sefton 1962 Lake on the Lyell Glacier watercolour 90.5 x 112 1962 Mt Peel, Winter watercolour 101 x 69 1963 Mt Peel oil 1963 Benmore from Rakaia Gorge watercolour 53 x 75 1963 21x29.5" Ebay Jan2021 $US6111[$NZ8591] & $US325[$NZ457]shipping Winchester UK Rakaia Valley from Prospect Hill oil on board 63 x 76 1963 (Louper Peak) Geraldine, South Canterbury watercolour 54 x 35 cm 1964 Barossa Station oil on board Skiing on Tasman Glacier Oil on board 47 x 70 cm 1964 Changing Weather towards Mt Hutt watercolour 35 x 52.5 1965 Mt. Sinclair & Mesopotamia Downs watercolour 35.5 x 53 1965 November Snow oil 1968 Mt Deane & Wangapeka Track N. Westland oil 80 x 62 1969 South Canterbury Landscape watercolour 46 x 29 1966 (Poplars) Mt Cook oil 1966 Across the Rangitata oil/board 48 x 74 1966 Pastoral South Canterbury mixed media 29 x 46 1966 Hocken Library Winter Snow, Mt Peel watercolour 66 x 98 1967 Orari Gorge, summer oil on hardboard 69 x 105 1968 height x length Near Geraldine oil on board 29 x 39 1969 Morning Sun, Chawton oil/board 44 x 57 1969 Head of the Tasman - Nor'wester oil 1969 Braid River - Rangitata watercolour 1969 ebay Feb. 2019 Mount Sibbald watercolour on paper 1970 Aigantighe Lendhu Bay, Lake Wanaka oil/board 95 x 98 Spring, Rangatita Gorge watercolour 60 x 89 Boundary Creek with bridge & trees watercolour 36 x 53cm Est. $1500-$2500 in 2018 Up the Rangitata Gorge Near Whangarei watercolour 25 x 35cm 1971 Est. $1,200-$1,800 in 2018 Andrews Creek oil 44 x 59 1971 Mt Peel, from Peel Forest Road oil/board 49 x 74.5 1971 Mt Peel, from Peel Forest Road oil/board 49 x 74.5 1971 Peel Forest, autumn oil on board 60 x 44 1971 Kereru Station watercolour 25 x 36cm 1971 Est. $1,200-$1,800 in 2018 Four Peaks The Downs oil 36 x 74 Willows and Cloudy Peak watercolour 29 x 40 cm Est. $1750-$2500 in 2020 Headwaters and Mountains watercolour 28 x 40cm Est. $1400-$2000 in 2020 Lake Tekapo in Winter watercolour 34 x 51cm 1972 Est. $1,400- $2000 in 2020 Little Mt Peel oil on panel 40 x 60 1972 Rata oil 50 x 39cm 1973 Est. $1,500-$2,500 in 2018 Bush & hills, Peel Forest oil on board 51 x 100 1975 Summer, Surrey watercolour Fishing Boats, Brittany watercolour Kereru Station, Hawkes Bay watercolour Climbing in Fiordland Still Life watercolour 1975 Barley at Peel Forest oil/canvas 86 x 121 1976 The Gates, Matukituki Ranges oil/board 44 x 53 1976 Mt Hutt Ski Life oil 35 x 60 1977 est. $1500-2500 in Nov. 2019 Mackenzie Basin Landscape oil 29 x 53 1977 H x W Verso "Varnish Aug 1978" Autumn, Peel Forest oil on board 27 x 49 1978 sold for $1800 in 2018 Mt. Peel watercolour 36 x 54 1978 Trademe, March 2017. Postage $30 rural. Mount Peel and the Rangitata River Acrylic on board 56 x 92 1978 Lincoln Uni Dobson Valley head of Lake Heron oil 40 x 92cm 1979 Est. $7,000-$10,000 in 2018 Little Mt Peel watercolour 52 x 72 1979 Est. $3000-$5000 in Nov. 2020 Antarctica 1981 Mount Discovery from Scott Base watercolour 1881 Simons Pond, Mt Peel oil on board 48.5 x 74 1981 The Rangitata Gorge looking from Mesopotamia to Erewhon 32x60 1981 c. $2,500 -$400 in 2018 w/c The Orari River & Mt Peel watercolour 25 x 47 1984 in 2009 est. $2,500 - 3,500 Rip Branch Hut watercolour 70 x 88.5cm 1984 Glencoe Station Derelict Truck watercolour Glacial Remain Rangitata oil 59 x 69fr 1985 Back Country Road watercolour 39 x 99 1986 Mist over Mt Somers watercolour 22 x 29.5 1988 Geraldine Downs 76 x 62cm 1988 Hut in the Willows watercolour 26 x 36cm Est. $1,200-$1,800 in 2018 Hill Country Pastoral Scene watercolour 28 x 39cm 1988 Est. $1,200-$1,800 in 2018 Houturu Pastoral Scene watercolour 30 x 44cm 1988 Est. $1,200-$1,800 in 2018 Pastoral Scene with trees watercolour 26 x 37cm 1990 est. $1,200-$1,800 in 2018 Pastoral Scene with Hills watercolour 42 x 61cm 1990 Est. $2,500-$3,500 in 2018 Mt Peel From Geraldine watercolour 36 x 54cm 1993 Est. $1,500-$2,500 in 2018 Inverary watercolour 25 x 34cm 1996 Est. $1,200-$1,800 in 2018 Mt Somers from Mt Peel watercolour 56 x 38 1996 sold $1700 Little Mt Peel oil 53 x 35 1996 sold $1800 Mt Peel watercolour 24 x 46 cm r 1999 Ext. &1600 - $2400 Nov. 2020 Cloudy Peak watercolour 33 x 66 2002 c. $4000 Hazy Mackenzie Plains watercolour 64 x 74 2003 Road to Tekapo watercolour 2003 Mt Dobson watercolour 2003 Kowhai Creek Misty watercolour 65 x 73.5 2005 Mt Peel Station watercolour 55 x 76cm 2006 c. $3,000 - $5,000 in 2018 Autumn Day, Peel Forest oil on board 32.2 x 60 2006 Sheep near Fairlie watercolour 2007 Snow at Peel Forest watercolour 2007 Tekapo in Autumn watercolour 2007 Bush oil 35 x 47 2007 ebay asking price $5500 Feb. 2019 Four Peaks, Dull Day Stream, Winter Mountain View watercolour 55 x 74cm 2008 Est. $2,500-$4,000 in 2018 Glacier oil on board 25 x 28cm 2008 sold $300 Mt. Peel Woolshed oil on board 30 x 57 2009 Rangitata Gorge, looking to Mesopotamia from White Rock Station 2011 Southern Alps with Mt Cook Lilies watercolour sold $11,357.25 in April 2017 Mist on Mt. Peel Tasman Glacier watercolour 25x36.5cm $1,000-$1600 (2019) Mt. Harper oil 45x59 $2000-$3,500 (2020)
Paintings: sold 99, images 77, highest price A$22,031 (that was probably the Four Peaks The Downs 36x74cm painting that sold in 2017 at Geraldine) ($NZ23,659), average price A$3,814. ($NZ4,096). Wayback April 2017
South Canterbury especially Peel Forest and the Rangitata Gorge remained a favourite subject throughout Deans eighty decades of painting. The photographs below are from the Edgar R. Williams Collection at the ATL are probably A.A. Deans painting. Deans had a beard at that time and would wear a red and black plaid woollen shirt. Edgar Richard Williams, born in 1891 in Dunedin, was made a life member of the New Zealand Alpine Club in 1974. He was a very prolific mountaineer. He climbed with A. Deans, Martin Bassett and R. Copp during the 1954-5 season around Milford Sound. Mt. Torlesse was always one of Edgar Williams favourite mountains. Edgar's first accents with include Dec. 1953 Mt. Lion (with A Deans, R Taylor) and Dec. 1954 Lawrenny Peak and Mt. Terror (with Austen Deans, Marty Bassett, Ray Copp).
He did a lot of tramping. Listen.
In 1962 Austen Deans received first prize in the Kelliher Art Awards for his painting of Kea Hut, aka Arthur's Hut, was a musterer's hut, was on Mount Cook Station, now Mt Cook Station Conservation Area. Kea Hut at Black Point has now been removed."I have always struck to landscape."
