Story: Landscapes – overview

‘Plantation series XVII’

‘Plantation series XVII’

Painter William A. Sutton (1917–2000) spent most of his life in Canterbury, and was inspired by its varied landscape. His ‘Plantation series’ of paintings, done later in his career, were intended to express disapproval of the large exotic pine forests, showing them as ‘scabs’ on the landscape. Sutton grew up at a time when Canterbury was mainly grassland – but in fact it had originally been covered in forest.

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Auckland Art Gallery – Toi o Tāmaki
Oil painting by William Alexander Sutton

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How to cite this page:

Eileen McSaveney, 'Landscapes – overview - Vegetation – the green mantle', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/12978/plantation-series-xvii (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Eileen McSaveney, published 24 Sep 2007, updated 1 Jul 2015