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This thesis examines aspects of Aestheticism in New Zealand. Despite the paucity of literature written on Aestheticism in colonial contexts, there is evidence that Aesthetic tendencies flourished in the art and literature of the ‘South Seas’. Aestheticism in Australia and New Zealand has been categorised as ‘insignificant’ within national art histories, overlooking the complex ways whereby aspects of Aestheticism arrived in the antipodes through international exhibitions, touring theatre productions, academically trained artists from Europe, and dispersal through literature. It is a moment in our national art history that should be recognised. My research is the first comprehensive study of Aestheticism and its impact on applied art and the general lifestyles of artists and patrons in New Zealand.  With particular focus on James McLauchlan Nairn and Charles Frederick Goldie, this study revises the status of two New Zealand artists who have been viewed as representative of opposing artistic camps—Nairn, a bohemian promoting Impressionist and open air landscape practice, and Goldie, a painter of the ‘Old World’ tradition of academic instruction. I suggest the oppositional status that has been applied to these painters in New Zealand’s art history is no more than a polemical device. By contrast, Aestheticism allows us to understand how both artists are not too dissimilar in certain aspects of their artistic ambition. They were both educated in Paris and this alone provided them with a sense of authority to dictate art and fashion when advising their upper-class clientele in New Zealand. My research has revealed how Nairn and Goldie inhabited similar social circles, in Wellington and Auckland respectively, and integrated aspects of the ‘cult of beauty’ into their art and living environments. Based on this research, I argue for a more nuanced understanding of how local and international tendencies interacted within New Zealand’s art.

'True direction': Aspects of aestheticism in New Zealand (1880-1913)