He's Painting His Clouds

With. Silver

From Fred Dunn, in Noumea New Caledonian native artist David Diake is now in the money.

The oil painting he is displaying in the top picture was sold recently in Noumea for £A9o—and a number of others went for lesser sums. The pamtings were displayed in a Noumea paint shop, and the sales handled by the Tourist Bureau. J David comes from the east coast coffee centre of Canala, and was for some years a native pastor. He was educated at the Protestant mission school at Doneva, and when “PIM” first reported on him (May 1958 p 19) the average price of his paintings was about £A7. David who doesn’t go in for large splashes of colour, began painting without having had any lessons One of the earlier samples of his work, a New Caledonian village scene is reproduced below. ’

The man behind the counter in the top photograph is the owner of the paint shop in which David displayed his recent work. If he looks a little unhappy it is because as a painter and decorator, he gets considerably less per square foot for his paintwork than David does. y