Farm Building Near Paris

Title and date supplied by artist for Auckland City Art Gallery, New Zealand, exhibition, Helen F V Scales, 1975-1976. Listed as artwork no. 11 in this exhibition. Second verso inscription probably from this time.

Purchased by original owner for $150.00 from Peter McLeavey Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand, July 1976, when it toured there from the Auckland City Art Gallery exhibition, Helen F V Scales, 1975-1976. Original owner in correspondence with T. Rakich, 07.10.21, "Peter told me at the time she was having an exhibition in the hope of getting enough money for her trip back to Paris!"

This painting was on loan to Te Manawa (previously Manawatu Art Gallery), Palmerston North, New Zealand, from the original owner, 1980-2012. First verso inscription added at this time.

For preparatory drawing see Untitled [Farm Building] [BC104] and Untitled [Farm Buildings] [BC105].

Christiane Devèze, Boris Kalachnikoff’s wife, in conversations with Marc Bonamie, Paris, France, 2016, “Flora loved to paint outdoors - nature, landscapes - in sunlight. She often drew and painted animals, especially our dogs and cats, and was very happy painting the plum trees in full bloom in our garden at Bry-Sur-Marne. Boris would often walk with her into the countryside to paint the farmland and houses in earlier days. We would sometimes go together to his parents' country house in Genevieve St Bois, to Provence where my parents lived, or to Bleymard in the Lozère District where my family has a holiday house. We all drew and painted happily, side by side, discussing our work all the time, but keeping our own different styles during these painting holidays.” – ‘Christiane Devezes: Conversations and Letters II’, Flora Scales, The Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatū, Nelson, New Zealand, 2018