Alan Pearson : Expressionist Portraits

Text by Alison Pearson with contributions from portrait subjects such as artist Margaret Hudson-Ware and author Laurence Fearnley. Incisive interpretations are also provided by art commentators: Tim Garrity, Denys Trussell, T.L. Rodney Wilson and Richard Wolfe among others. Fifty years of portraits, painted and drawn in New Zealand, England and Italy and in Australia since 2000, are brought together in this new book. Designed by the artist, it contains visually exciting illustrations of his portraits from New Zealand public art galleries, from private collectors internationally and from the artist's own collection. Regarded as a foremost expressionist painter in New Zealand, Alan Pearson has received high praise for his portraits of Mrs Oliver; Tony Fomison; and the Huia Couple, Leo and Linda. His own esteemed self-portraits form a substantial core of the book, charting the artist's progress autobiographically. The author focuses on the stories inherent in a portrait with the arc of the artist's story presented in chronological sequence.