Mark Venables was born in Napier in 1917. Like William Reed, he  attended the Canterbury College School of Art in Christchurch after the war. His landscape painting shows the influence of, among others, South Island Regionalist painter William Sutton.

Figure 1

Few of Venables’ works from the Pacific War are available publicly, but they demonstrate considerable skill with the medium of water-colour, as in this view of a farm-house in New Caledonia (Figure 1).

Like many New Zealand servicemen, he was intrigued by the culture and lifestyle of the American soldiers and airmen he shared the islands of Mono and Stirling with, and recorded a gathering of them in another water-colour simply entitled “Yanks” (Figure 2).

Figure 2

And, as with so many others, he must have been impressed with the latest in aircraft technology he saw, epitomised by the iconic Lockheed P-38 “Lightning” (Figure 3).

Figure 3

Like William Reed, Venables was attached to the Medical Corps (7^th NZ Field Ambulance) and served in New Caledonia and the Solomons. Like Arthur “Polly” Pollock, who was in the same unit (see “Anonymous and Semi-Anonymous Works on Paper”) and whom he must have known, Venables rose to the rank of sergeant. He also knew Russell Clark, whom he met on Mono Island in May 1944, shortly before the 8^th Brigade were withdrawn to New Zealand.

Venables continued producing art throughout his time in the Pacific, reportedly drawing likenesses of other servicemen for a shilling (twelve-pence) a time. Unfortunately, none of these works have surfaced on the internet.

On returning from the war Venables was accepted for a three year Diploma in Fine Arts at Canterbury School of Art, and on graduating in 1949 began an art teaching career at Hastings High School, and later taking up a position at Seddon Memorial Technical College (later Seddon High School and today Western Springs College) in Auckland.

His last appointment was at Auckland Technical Institute (now Auckland University of Technology) where he taught printmaking and graphic design. He joined the Auckland Society of Arts (ASA) in 1954 and continued his work as printmaker and painter, producing several watercolours of Auckland landmarks. These include a view of Rangitoto Island (Figure 4), the “sacred island” mentioned by Harry Stone in the final pages of his war diary, when the transport ship bringing him Home anchored in the Rangitoto Channel.

Venables died in 2003.

Figure 4