Theodorus Johannes Schoon

Theodorus Johannes Schoon (31 July 1915 - 14 July 1985) was an artist, photographer and carver.

Life

Theo Schoon was born at Kebumen, Java in the East Indies, the son of Dutch parents, Johannes Theodorus Schoon and his wife, Barbara Isabella Maria Steegemans. Theo lived in Java with his parents and brother before being sent to the Netherlands for his education. He attended the Rotterdam Academy of Fine Arts and also travelled widely in Europe. In 1936 he returned to Java and set up an art studio. In 1939, with the war looming, he and his parents emigrated to New Zealand.

While his art school training was conservative, Schoon knew about the Bauhaus, a German art and design school that revolutionised twentieth-century art. The Bauhaus taught that divisions between art and craft were illusory, and both were equally valid artistic expressions. This idea influenced Schoon for his whole artistic life and gave him the freedom to experiment in many media including drawing, printmaking, painting, wood carving, potting, stone carving, jewellery-making and photography.

While Schoon was mostly unimpressed with the local art scene in New Zealand he did briefly attend the Canterbury University College School of Art before moving to Wellington in 1941. While in Wellington he came in contact with artists whose work he approved of and influenced including Rita Angus - for whom he was one of the main sources of her interest in Buddhist art and culture; [Dunn, Michael. [http://www.art-newzealand.com/Issues21to30/theo.htm 'The Art of Theo Schoon'] . Art New Zealand, n.d. URL: http://www.art-newzealand.com/Issues21to30/theo.htm] Gordon Walters - with whom he shared his interest in non-figurative painting; Dennis Knight Turner; and A. R. D. Fairburn. His [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/exhibitions/RitaAngus/artworks.aspx?irn=721 portrait] was painted by Rita Angus. [This [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/exhibitions/RitaAngus/artworks.aspx?irn=721 work] is on loan to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa for display in the [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/exhibitions/RitaAngus/ Rita Angus: Life & Vision] exhibition until 5 October 2008.]

Schoon was very interested in Maori art. From the mid 1940s He studied the early Maori rock drawings in Canterbury caves and was employed by the Department of Internal Affairs to record the drawings from 1945 to 1948.

He moved to Auckland in 1949 and stayed with A. R. D. Fairburn before moving on to Rotorua in 1950 where he began a series of photographic studies of mudpools and silica formations around Rotorua and Taupo. He returned to Auckland in 1952 and shifted his artistic focus to Maori designs in Moko (facial tatooing), carved gourds [ [http://teaohou.natlib.govt.nz/journals/teaohou/issue/Mao39TeA/c18.html 'The Old Maori Water Bottles'] . Te Ao Hou The Maori Magazine, June 1962] , and kowhaiwhai (rafters of meeting houses). He began to grow and carve his own gourds in 1956-57. He moved to the East Coast in 1961 to study traditional carving techniques with the Maori carver Pine Taiapa and was encouraged to publish an article [Schoon, Theo. [http://teaohou.natlib.govt.nz/journals/teaohou/issue/Mao39TeA/c31.html 'Growing Maori Gourds'] . Te Ao Hou The Maori Magazine, June 1962] on growing gourds in the Maori magazine "Te Ao Hou" in 1962 to accompany an article on carved gourds. In 1963 his gourds were the only artwork by a Pakeha (non-Maori) featured in an exhibition of Maori art held at Turangawaewae marae, Ngaruawahia. Most of Schoon's gourds were sold to tourists and only a few remain in New Zealand today.

After moving back to Auckland in 1956 Schoon continued his work until he left Auckland for Rotorua in late 1965 to return to photographing mudpools and other geothermic activity. He switched artistic focus again in 1968 when he began to carve greenstone (pounamu or New Zealand jade). He moved to the West Coast of New Zealand - the source of the stone - and was employed by the Westland Greenstone Company in Hokitika in 1970. He did some major research into jade carving at this time including a trip to Hong Kong but was dismissed from his employment in 1971. He moved to Sydney in 1972 where he completed a book on jade carving called "Jade Country", published 1973.

Throughout his life he took numerous jobs to make ends meet while he pursued his art including working as a nurse at Auckland Mental Hospital in Avondale in 1949 and as a farm worker at the Mt Albert Plant Research Station in 1952. He often relied on the generosity of friends for accommodation and support. He was a flamboyant man and a homosexual. His upbringing in the East Indies continued to influence him throughout his life. He enjoyed dressing up in Balinese clothing and had studied Javanese dance. [See [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/ Collections Online Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa] and search by the term "Schoon" to view images] [Theo Schoon, 'Oriental Dancing and the Trance', The Arts in New Zealand, December 1944/January 1945, vol. 17,1] He was photographed in later life still able to demonstrate the lotus position and the intricate hand movements.

He returned to New Zealand in 1982 but went back to Sydney in 1985 where he died on 14 July aged 69. His extensive archive including sketch books, photographic negatives and correspondance was purchased by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Exhibitions

* 1963, Turangawaewae marae, Group Exhibition
* 1965, New Vision Gallery Solo Exhibition
* 2008, Te Papa, [http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/TePapa/English/WhatsOn/ShortTermExhibitions/TheoSchoonExhibition.htm "Theo Schoon: Opening the Archive"]

List of Works

* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search.aspx?advanced=colProProductionMakers%3a%22Schoon%2c+Theo%22+colCollectionGroup%3aCH Works in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]

External links

* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?oid=631799&coltype=photography&regno=o.027677 Portrait of Theo Schoon]
* [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/Essay_Body.asp?PersonEssay=5S4&QuickSearch=true Dictionary of New Zealand Biography]

Notes

Persondata
NAME = Schoon, Theo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Schoon, Theodorus Johannes
SHORT DESCRIPTION = artist
DATE OF BIRTH = 31 July 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH = Kebumen, Java
DATE OF DEATH = 14 July 1985
PLACE OF DEATH = Sydney, Australia