ALDIS, A.
Born Kentish Town, London: arrived Auckland 1882 when his father W. Steadman Aldis took a position as Professor of Mathematics at Auckland University College. Exhibited landscapes in oils and a portrait with Auckland Society of Arts 1887–89. It is difficult to disentangle A. Aldis from his brother A. E. Aldis, as works attributed in the Society catalogues to A. E. Aldis are signed A. Aldis. Did not exhibit after 1889, but he and his brother listed as Auckland artists, “E. and A. Aldis” 1890–91 Wise's. His parents did not leave Auckland until 1897; whether A. Aldis returned to England or joined his brother in Australia is not known. Paintings signed A. Aldis are in ACAG and Hocken.
From an Article in Auckland City Art Gallery
Newsletter Number 1 April/July 1981
The effects of civilisation on the landscape were also observed by artists. In 1888 A. E. Aldis painted a small oil of Mechanics Bay, which shows a brickworks and other buildings dominating the foreshore and it may have been an awareness of constant encroachments on the native bush which prompted many artists to try to portray its dense, damp greenness and great variety of native plants. Some succeeded admirably, while others produced works which moulded the New Zealand landscape into an imitation of an English arcadia.
