Woodville's Lindauer connection going global

Woodville's Joan McIntyre, left, her husband Kevin and Sue McLeod of the Friends of Lindauer group, at the Lindauer Studio waiting for the Czech film crew. Photo Christine McKay

The arrival of a film crew from the Czech Republic has put Tararua and its Lindauer connections in the international spotlight.

The crew was filming in Woodville last Friday night for an episode to run on Czech television focusing on the extensive knowledge of Woodville couple Kevin and Joan McIntyre and the Friends of Lindauer group and the life of the renowned artist.

The television series has run for 40 episodes, with filming taking place all around the world.

Members of the Czech film crew outside Woodville's Lindauer Studio last Friday night.

But this was the first time downunder, featuring four Australians and two New Zealanders, Mirek Smisek, a potter in Otaki and Gottfried Lindauer's Woodville connections.

"This isn't just about Lindauer, it's about our history too which will be going global," Sue McLeod of the Friends of Lindauer said.

The film crew had completed some good research on Woodville's Lindauer Studio, much of which had come from Hana Flanderová, the Czech Republic Consul General in Australia.

Filming for the television documentary at Woodville's historic Gorge Cemetery where Gottfried Lindauer is buried.

Flanderová spent time in Woodville earlier this year attending the opening of the Lindauer art exhibition and visiting the Tararua District and said she was impressed with the vast knowledge the McIntyre's had on the Czech artist who lived, worked and died in Woodville.

The film crew had been to Perth and Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Tasmania before its trip to New Zealand.

However, things got off to somewhat of a bad start when their flight from Australia last Thursday was diverted to Auckland because of bad weather.

The crew then had to queue for three hours for a 7am flight to Wellington on Friday.

They drove first to Otaki and then on to Woodville as night was beginning to descend.

"They were very organised and filmed outside the Woodville studio, the historic Gorge Cemetery where Lindauer is buried and then back inside the studio as it got darker," Kevin said. "It was an interesting couple of hours.

"The programme is tracing sons and daughters of Czech origin and following the story of how and where they have settled around the world. Lindauer came to their attention due to the art exhibition at the West Bohemian Gallery in Pilsen in the Czech Republic in 2015 which we attended and the Woodville connection and our contact with the Czech Republic over several years."

But despite their life-long passion for Lindauer and the launch of their book Gottfried Lindauer Life of the Artist and his Works in September, the McIntyres continue on the trail of Lindauer paintings in private collections.

The latest, a very large Lindauer uncovered in Wellington, which, after presenting their credentials to the owners, the McIntyre's were able to photograph for the Woodville studio.

Now Kevin has offered his wife a holiday in Rotorua.

But it seems there are a couple of Lindauers possibly lurking there as well.