Art class

Bessie Christie’s paintings of cityscapes and people offer a rare perspective on modern New Zealand life during a period dominated by landscape painting.

Christie began classes at the Elam School of Art in 1921 and it was there she sketched social occasions, later working them up into paintings. Art Class, a painting about painting, shows students crowded around a model, their work showing her from

different perspectives.

Bessie Christie studied painting at the Elam School of Art during the 1930s. She was an exceptional colourist with an ability to portray complex figure groups. Her satirical view of contemporary art was enjoyed by local art reviewers. This painting appears to show one of Lois White's own art classes where students would sit as models for one another. The high viewpoint shows the model, and all of the women that are painting her, being crowded out of the small studio.

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