03 Magazine: April 05, 2024

Feature | Magazine 41
Jeffrey Harris was only 21 when he fell head over heels
in love with Joanna Margaret Paul. It was the first time
he had ever been in love.
They met at a party at philanthropist Charles Brasch’s
Dunedin home in 1970. Jeffrey had recently been
invited to Dunedin by mentor Michael Smither, while
Joanna was living in Port Chalmers, part of a charmed
circle of artists which included names like Ralph Hotere
and Colin McCahon.
“I was knocked out by this intelligent person,” Jeffrey says.
“It was all based on art, the same sort of interests.”
The couple were soon sharing a studio in Royal Terrace
and then married in 1971, moving to a small cottage at
Seacliff, where they spent their time painting and drawing.
It only cost $5 a week, and didn’t have hot water.
“It was quite primitive living, but we didn’t mind.”
The besotted artist couldn’t resist sketching his new
wife, whether she was sleeping, reading, playing chess or
just gazing out of the window.
“It was a special time, sort of like a honeymoon period.
It was good times, the best times. There was no pressure,
in a sort of idyllic landscape, a beautiful little house.”
Until now those works have been tucked away in his
studio, but recently Jeffrey felt the time had come to
sort through his studio and exhibit some of the more
historically interesting works. It has also enabled him to
touch up and restore any works that needed it.
“I felt they should be seen. There’s quite a lot of work
that has never been exhibited, it’s time to organise a lot
of it – if I don’t do it, it won’t get done properly. It’s quite
interesting from an historical perspective.”
The drawings and paintings from life are the only ones
Jeffrey has ever done. He has never felt the need to do it
again in other relationships.
“It was just that 12-month, year-and-a-half period that I
did that. I don’t normally paint real people or from life or
real drawings. It was a unique period.
“It was partly the influence of Joanna, she did a lot
of paintings from life. When we met there was this
cross-influence. I was influenced by her work, she was
influenced by mine – but it didn’t last long.”
The exhibition celebrates that period and hence its
name, Portrait of a Marriage.
“It was like a honeymoon period and once it’s over you
can’t get it back. It’s a special time of life if you’re lucky
enough to experience it.”
When the couple moved to Wellington in 1973 life
changed. Children came along, and so did the pressures
of everyday life and a full-time job.
“It was a whole different set of dynamics. That period
of painting, that intimate relationship was over.”
The couple, both of whom were awarded the Frances
Hodgkins Fellowship – Jeffrey in 1977 and Joanna in 1983
– broke up in the 1980s.
In Wellington, Jeffrey moved back to painting in his
own style, based on photographs and featuring religious
iconography such as the crucifixion. He’s not sure where
that interest came from, as he did not come from a
religious family.
“I self-educated myself with art books – I didn’t go to
art school – I used to go to the Christchurch library and
get out all these art books.
“A lot of the ones I was attracted to had religious
imagery, they were of Old Masters and something
connected there with me. So I started doing my own
religious paintings.
“They’re nothing to do with religion, they’re to do
with the intensity and emotions and feelings I saw in
these paintings.”