‘Rita Angus would be horrified’: ‘Horrible’ KiwiRail sign installed at cultural landmark

Saturday, 5 October 2024

Rita Angus’s iconic painting Cass is one of New Zealand art’s most well known images. Reproduced courtesy of the Rita Angus Estate.

It inspired one of New Zealand’s most iconic artworks, but a “horrible” corporate addition to the famous Cass railway station has been condemned by visitors to the Canterbury landmark.

Created by Rita Angus in 1936, Cass - a depiction of the remote station near Arthur’s Pass - was voted New Zealand’s greatest painting in a 2006 TV poll.

Cass station in Canterbury was made famous by Rita Angus’s 1936 oil painting. A recently added KiwiRail sign spoils the view for art fans, according to a Canterbury painter whose great aunt inspired some of Angus’s work.

But the vista is now “impossible” to photograph due to the installation of imposing KiwiRail signage, which one local business owner is hoping will be moved.

Canterbury watercolourist Janey Thomas, who paints under the name Janey Lovell-Smith, regularly visits Cass and had a personal connection to Angus via her great aunt, the respected artist Rata Lovell-Smith, who influenced some of the Cass painter’s work.

She said the installation was “very poorly thought through”.

Cass station in Canterbury was made famous by Angus’s 1936 painting, but visitors and art lovers have criticised a “horrible” new sign at the site.

“It’s always going to be in everyone’s photographs now. I just feel disappointed really. They could have actually used their brains and treated it with a bit more sensitivity.

“Every time I go through or past Cass I always divert to the actual township and visit the little station. I don’t know, it’s a bit of a pilgrimage; I like to just see how it’s faring.”

Thomas, who is based in Amberley, said there were “numerous” places KiwiRail could have put its sign.

Janey Thomas, who paints watercolours under the name Janey Lovell-Smith, was upset to see the large KiwiRail sign installed at Cass. Thomas, who has an interest in NZ railway history, is pictured at Waipara Station.

“It’s a big, long siding that goes for some distance before the double rail goes into single again. Oh dear, it’s sad. And it’s emblazoned ‘KiwiRail’ - it’s all about KiwiRail, and then the tiny little name underneath, Cass.

“They must be aware of its cultural significance. Why would they need to put it so close, and, in fact, why would they need to put it on there at all, since the name Cass is already on the station? It’s just redundant.”

The famous Cass shelter has been painted different colours over the years, including the current orange and red.

“Although the new colour scheme took some getting used to - and subsequent investigations showed the colour had changed over the decades - the KiwiRail sign was the last straw,” Thomas said.

Art lovers Jane Howden and Richard Daniels took a detour to visit Cass during a recent holiday, but Howden said the “plasticky” KiwiRail sign made it impossible to photograph the famous landmark.

Napier solicitor Jane Howden recently visited Cass with her husband Richard Daniels.

“I think Rita Angus would be horrified if she saw that,” Howden said.

“My husband’s an architect so he’s interested in buildings, and we have been to the Rita Angus exhibition and we’ve always had an interest in the arts. It’s a painting that we are very familiar with. And as we’re driving through, we had lots of time to stop off there and have a look at the station.

“We drove up and had a look at it and, yes, it’s a horrible sign. The building’s well marked anyway.”

“We were horrified by it and I’m sure we’re not the only ones, because people make an effort to go there and call off the road and see it.”

Howden had hoped to photograph the famous scene, but the sign got in the way.

Cass station photographed in 2009 before the addition of the KiwiRail sign.

“We did take some photos, but we couldn’t really centre the station because of this great big horrible plasticky sign.”

Sean Moran, who runs the Arthur’s Pass Cafe and Store, a 20 minute drive from Cass, criticised the sign’s placing.

“For many years KiwiRail has enjoyed the publicity that comes from this iconic Rita Angus painting that characterises Cass. And somebody who probably doesn’t appreciate that heritage has put some signage in an eye-watering place.”

He thought there was “scope for better placement”.

“And that means you can still achieve whatever their internal requirements are. One would hope it would be a communication error, rather than a case of someone with their head off and cabbage on.”

Owned by Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Cass was bought directly from Angus in 1955 by the institution under its former name, the Robert McDougall Art Gallery.

“The painting was completed after Angus and fellow Christchurch painters Louise Henderson and Julia Scarvell spent 10 days at the Canterbury College Biological Station, just up the hill from the railway station, in May 1936,” gallery curator Peter Vangioni said.

“The scene in the painting remains remarkably similar when you visit the location today. Angus later described her time there as happy days and often longed to return to the mountains.”

“Included among these are Julian Dashper, Peter Peryer, André Hemer, Dane Mitchell and Des Helmore.”

In addition to inspiring art lovers to visit Cass station, many contemporary artists had produced their own depictions of the scene, Vangioni said.

“Included among these are Julian Dashper, Peter Peryer, André Hemer, Dane Mitchell and Des Helmore.”

A KiwiRail spokesperson confirmed they were “looking into” The Press’s query about the sign.