Revival of a South Island artist

Fantastica, The World of Leo Bensemann
By Peter Simpson
Auckland University Press

For much of his career, South Island artist Leo Bensemann was in the shadow of Rita Angus and his work, which was compared to hers, was often regarded as derivative.

There have been a few publications about the artist and several South Island institutions have promoted his work but it was rarely seen in the North Island. Since in his death in 1986 there have been only a handful of articles on him.

Peter Simpson’s new publication is an in-depth study of the artist and his life; it goes some way in correcting the imbalance in the way the artist has previously been presented and shows he was an artist and designer in his own right.

Simpson gives us the life of the artist with all his various interests, intersections with other artists, influences, impacts and developments. His portrait of the artist is refreshingly perceptive about the nature of the artists and his art.

Even though Simpson provides new insights, he does not endeavour to give Bensemann more status than he warrants. However, Simpson manages to record the artist's full career, which included being a member of Christchurch art collective The Group. The book also recounts his relationships with major figures of the art world, including Charles Brasch, Rita Angus, Douglas Lilburn, Lawrence Baigent, Denis Glover and Doris Lusk.

Simpson writes about the connections with Angus and the similarities between their work of the 1930s and 1940s. Simpson notes the two artists came to their stylistic approaches from different perspectives and Bensemann always had a more surreal approach that he developed throughout out his life.

Both his work and that of Angus were important in providing the basis of early New Zealand Modernism.

As a designer, he was of major importance with his contribution to Landfall. He produced cover designs for the literary periodical from 1947 until 1962 and was considered by editor Charles Brasch to be one of the four people who ensured its success. Bensemann was also editor of Landfall for several years as well as the founding editor of the short lived Ascent magazine, which was an important art publication of the late 1960s.

The title Fantastica refers to a series of art nouveau black and white illustrations that are close in style to Aubrey Beardsley and much of Bensemann's early design work had an elegance and exoticism that set him apart form many other graphic artists.

The book is a fine addition to the history of art and artists in New Zealand.