Patrick Hayman, born in London 1915, was a notable painter and poet recognized for his highly original and imaginative works. His style was sophisticated, often small in scale and heavily informed by his personal view of history as well as his love of poetry. Although his imagery is pared back and frequently includes text, he remained a figurative rather than an abstract artist throughout his life.

Hayman spent his teenage years attending Malvern College in Worcestershire. In 1936 at the age of 19, after the premature death of his mother, he journeyed to New Zealand on the S.S. Rangitiki to join his father’s importing firm P. Hayman and Company. Hayman was instantly inspired by his new surroundings, in particular the artistic heart of Dunedin. He made friends with Colin McCahon, Anne Hamblett, Doris Lusk, Rodney Kennedy, Charles Brasch and Ron O’Reilly. He soon became disillusioned with work at the importing firm so he enrolled in a part time course at Dunedin School of Art. Hayman had always considered himself more of a writer than a painter but now able to embark on a journey of artistic discovery he entered the most liberating time of his life.

Hayman was Jewish, a faith that comes with a long and deep history of misplacement, persecution, community, and individual resourcefulness all of which are inherent in his work. During his years of public schooling in England he often experienced anti-Semitism. Accompanied by the threat of WW2 in Europe, relocation to NZ was a welcome prospect.

Religious iconography is a recurring theme throughout his work. Images of crucifixions, biblical characters and the Star of David often feature in his paintings. ‘The Holy Family’ for example includes a cloaked gentleman in a top hat with a sharp side profile alluding to a stereotypical Jewish persona. This figure might be an alter ego or simply an acknowledgment of his lineage. The Star of David is engraved into the paint, almost hidden beneath the details. The diaspora of Jewish people and Hayman’s own life journey is perhaps echoed in the constant movement he creates by using very fluid brush strokes with skewed perspectives.Hayman’s experience as an outsider both as a Jewish man and an immigrant in New Zealand shaped his inclination to stray from conventional art trends and follow his own style.

After three years of study Hayman left Dunedin in 1939 and joined McCahon, Lusk, Kennedy and Elespie Forsyth at the brick house of Toss Woollaston in Māpua. They drew, painted, and worked long hours on an orchard. Hayman viewed his time here as, “A kind of visionary state without knowing it at all.’’ Colin McCahon wrote home about this summer spent with a house full of friends in an idyllic landscape. “I have been working very hard drawing the Mapua landscape but as yet have done nothing really satisfactory. We draw in the mornings and evenings & eat at midday. It is so hot.’’

In 1940, following a brief period in Nelson, Hayman moved to Wellington to attend Victoria University. It was here he mixed with a variety of English and History students such as Hubert and Noel Witheford, Janet Paul and Eric Schwimmer. Hayman settled into a bedsit overlooking the Wellington harbour. He was enchanted with the seascape busy with large ships. As a child his mother took him to Bexhill, where they lived happily on the coast while his father was away at war. The coast left a lasting impression on his young memory and became an enduring motif in his painting. He admired Cornish artist Alfred Wallis whose naïve paintings of ships and the sea he found captivating and a strong influence for Hayman over his career.

In 1942 during his time in Wellington, he had a brief affair and a daughter Christina Conrad was born. Conrad went on to pursue an artistic career as a painter, poet and filmmaker in New Zealand. She was unaware of who her father was and upon the discovery of his identity, Hayman became a central figure within her work. In a poem named ‘father’ she wrote of the estranged Hayman, ‘’father, you came too late, a mound of anger had grown, over heart’s divided chamber.’’ Conrad’s daughter, Miro Bilbrough, also went on to pursue an artistic career referencing Hayman in her memoir. ‘’It occurs to me that his painting, which often include poems or literary fragments, might have been gardens to him. I sometimes think of this when I am writing that I am making a garden to roam in.”

In 1945, Hayman was trusted by McCahon to select and hang paintings for his exhibition at The French Maid in Lambton Quay, Wellington. McCahon wrote to his sister, Beatrice, stating, “Last weekend I spent in Wellington to see the exhibition. Very beautifully hung by Pat Hayman”.