Page 37 - Studio International - February 1965

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F1/1 Landscape, 1 964
46 X 46 in.
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F,ji Seascape. 1964
46 X 46 in.
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Jacob ,n Uniform
46 X 46 in.

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was asked to choose one of the 300 Fijian islands-not
too developed. with fresh water. a school and a hospital.
Ovalau. with 2.000 inhabitants. is ten miles by six miles
and you can walk round it in a day. Levuka, the principal
town, is the former capital and boasts a monument
marking the handing over of Fiji to Queen Victoria.
Sutton describes it as 'ghost like' with a fine harbour,
a few shops and a swimming pool.
After much difficulty they found a bungalow on a hill
overlooking the town. 'Fijian huts are very functional­
no glass windows, open walls with screens to keep off
the sun and allow the sea breeze to cool the rooms.·
As he described the house I thought of the famous
photographs of Robert Louis Stevenson on Samoa.
'The place is exotic,' he emphasized, 'but it's not
Paradise. They struggle for trade union rights as much
as in Northern England. But there is light and sunshine
and the Fijians have a warmth and friendliness lost to
the English.' In one of his letters he had written 'they
are always smiling and seem happy all the time, but I
expect they do worry sometimes ... ·
The Sutton family lived a simple and fairly isolated life.
but with the children at school and the publicity in the
local press and radio about the newly arrived English
painter. they soon came to know many locals. Among
the more exciting events was a long visit from the actor
Albert Finney
Sutton, as might be imagined. produced an enormous
quantity of work. Over thirty sketch-books. hundreds of
paintings from tiny oils six inches square to large
canvases, and a quantity of woodcuts. The days were
long and productive. Tm writing this six o'clock in the
morning, the sun is already high up and is shining so
bright you can't look at it directly.'
far as British painters usually reach. The romantic When we began to examine the Fijian oeuvre. just a
'Desert Island Discs· ideal is one few of us would care few weeks after his return. Sutton exclaimed. Tm not
to realize. calm enough to see what I've done. You get so unwound
Sutton admitted a long-standing desire to live on an in the tropics, so completely loose and open. Every day
island; in 1963 a certain restlessness and dissatisfaction was perfect. I worked for twelve hours each day. You
urged reality onto the fantasy. But even then he was no go on painting without thinking about it. without seeing
more ambitious than the Channel Islands. Then a friend the whole effect.'
suggested the Pacific. 'It was like thinking of owning Now thirty-six years old, Sutton has long been one of
a rare, exotic jewel.' The Pacific was such a long way the finest. most uninhibited colourists of his generation.
from London that the distance eventually became Before leaving for Fiji his work had already taken on an
unreal. Professor Geddes. a friend at Sydney University. even more gorgeous sensuousness in a series of nudes.
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