In Rarotonga
p. 35 · Read in the full issue
English Artist And Writer
From Our Own Correspondent Rarotonga, October 1.
THE well-known English artist and writer. Mr. Robert Gibbings, accom panied by his secretary, Miss P.
Empson, arrived in Rarotonga by plane at the end of September. They came from Samoa, where they have been stay ing for some time. They have also visited Fiji, Tonga and the Tokelaus.
Mr. Gibbings is collecting notes and making a large number of sketches from which he will eventually produce a book of impressions of Polynesia.
At the end of October he will go on to Mangaia where he will stay about a month before returning to Rarotonga.
He then hopes to travel aboard the schooner “Tiare Taporo” on its end-of the-season voyage to the northern Cook Islands, continuing to Tahiti, where he will stay until the schooner returns to Rarotonga at the end of March.
The artist spent some time in Tahiti 20 years ago, and he is eager to learn what changes have taken place in the
intervening period.
Mr. Gibbings and Miss Empson both feel that Rarotonga is the most pleasant island they have yet visited. They have made many friends in the short time they have been here.
The giant, bearded artist creates a con siderable impression among the Maoris who always admire a powerful physique.
There was a minor sensation when he set out to get a hat made for himself.
There was no hat block on the island of such size, and there never had been.
When eventually a block had been padded and a hat woven upon it to fit the artist, it was declared to be the largest hat ever made.
Sketching in the islands, Mr. Gibbings finds to be a very trying business. It is difficult to concentrate with a crowd of natives whispering and breathing down the back of one’s neck and occasionally jogging one’s elbow. He regrets that
Polynesians do not make good models as they invariably become hopelessly self conscious upon finding themselves the object of attention, and are no better when asked to pose.
He is, however, used to working in dif ficult situations. He is greatly interested in tropical fish and coral formations and has made sketches under water, wearing a diving helmet.
At the conclusion of his studies in the Cook Islands, Mr. Gibbings will make his way back through the islands to Eng land, where he will complete his book on Polynesia, promised for the end of 1947.