Philip Clairmont
Philip Anthony Clairmont (1949–1984) was a New Zealand painter. Biography Clairmont was born on 15 September 1949 in Nelson and named Philip Anthony Haines until his mother changed the family name in the early seventies. He attended Nelson College from 1963 to 1966. He studied in Christchurch under Rudolf Gopas, graduating from the Canterbury School of Fine Arts in 1970. In 1969 he married Viki Hansen and their daughter Melissa was born the same year. In 1973 he received a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council grant and the family moved to Waikanae north of Wellington and four years later to 39 Roy Street in Wellington. Clairmont’s final move was to Auckland in 1977. In 1979 he had another child, this time with his partner Rachel Power, a son named Orlando. Clairmont's work was informed by the works of Vincent van Gogh and Francis Bacon, and was also influenced by his close relationship with fellow New Zealand artists Tony Fomison and Allen Maddox. His work is usually classed as expressionist or neo-expressionist because of the use of strong colours and distorted forms, often with domestic interiors as subject matter. His early work tends to be focussed and detailed. During his final