Page 36 - Studio International - February 1965

Away from it all Philip Sutton's Fijian paintings

by Charles S. Spencer

Philip Sutton left England for Fiji in July, 1963. This 54-in. wide canvas. It was all used in two months
was no Gauguinesque escape story. He took with him and virtually the whole stock of similar canvas in
his wife and four children-his own world in fact. They Australia had to be bought up. The return journey,
stayed five weeks in Australia en route. holding a completing a trip round the world. was through the
successful exhibition which helped finance the trip. Panama Canal and the United States.
and supplementing their supplies. They returned to Why? was my first question. remembering an article in
London last October. having spent a full twelve months which John Russell once described Sutton's home in
on the Fijian island of Ovalau. The whole trip cost Battersea as ·an outpost of Eden' and his work as ·an
between £4,000 and £5,000. savings from a successful earthy Paradise.· Was it an elaborate escape, or a search
career in painting since 1956. Among the material he for stimuli no longer to be found in England. Many
Levuka Town, F1i1
30 X 30 in. took with him were ten rolls. each of six yards. of artists seek sun and solitude. but France or Italy is as
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