Alan Pearson

Alan Robert Pearson (23 August 1929 – 2019) was a neo-expressionist painter who lived in New Zealand and, in his later life, Australia.

Life and work Pearson was born on 23 August 1929 in Liverpool, England, and moved to Australia in 1951 and then New Zealand in 1954. He studied at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts from 1957 to 1959, graduating with a Diploma of Fine Arts in 1960, and then lived most of his life in Christchurch, before moving to Australia in 2000. Pearson became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1979. Pearson painted portraits of many of his friends, family and colleagues. He also chronicled and immortalised himself in numerous self portraits, scrutinising the artist's psyche. In describing his relationship with his sitters, Pearson said in an interview in 2010:

"I'm looking into the inner person, talking with the individual and discovering a collection of inner thoughts which come together in their face."

Pearson died in Noosa, Queensland, Australia, in 2019.

Awards 1958 - Rosa Sawtell Prize for drawing 1959 - Bickerton-Widdowson Scholarship 1964 - Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand scholarship to study at Royal Academy Schools, London. 1976 - Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand travel scholarship 1978 - National Bank Portrait Award. 1st prize for Herne Bay Couple 1979 - National Bank Portrait Award. 1st prize for Portrait of Mrs Oliver 1986 - Artist in residence, Otago Polytechnic School of Fine Art, Dunedin Public Art Gallery. 1989 - Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand travel grant to Australia. 1993 - Artist in residence Tai Poutini Polytechnic, Greymouth (grant, Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand)

Collections Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington Auckland City Art Gallery Chartwell Collection, Auckland Christchurch Art Gallery (formerly Robert McDougall Art Gallery) Christchurch Dunedin Public Art Gallery Forrester Gallery, Oamaru Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin James Wallace Trust Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Cleveland, England Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington New Zealand Film Archive New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Wellington Suter Art Gallery, Nelson Te Manawa Museum (formerly Manawatu Art Gallery), Palmerston North The Rutherford Trust Collection, Wellington The Todd Corporation Art Collection, Wellington University of Otago Medical School, Auckland University of Otago, Dunedin Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton