James Coe

Herbert James Bowkett Coe QSO (26 September 1917 - 17 December 2003), better known as James or Jim Coe, was a New Zealand artist, art teacher, industrial designer and early champion of ergonomic design.

Coe was born in Timaru in 1917. He attended the Canterbury College of Fine Art until his art studies were interrupted by World War II and war service in the Pacific. Coe served with the Third Division, Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. His primary military service was in the Solomon Islands, where he commanded a platoon in C Company.

Coe continued with his art during his service and often sketched portraits of soldiers for them to send home to their family and friends. His war service formed the subject of four paintings held in the New Zealand National Collection of War Art, which were painted after his return to New Zealand in 1945. Two of these were purchased for the Exhibition of Official War Paintings by New Zealand Artists in 1952. The other two were donated to Archives New Zealand by Coe in 1995.

After the war, he was seconded to the Department of Education to establish an art scheme for secondary schools. He set up the pilot programme at Hutt Valley High School at Hutt Valley, Wellington and was then recruited to become the head of the Hutt Valley High School art department from 1945-1959.

In 1959 Coe took up the position of art school director at Wellington Technical College and in the following years helped to establish and lead the new School of Design as part of Wellington Polytechnic. He developed a keen interest in anatomy and anatomical drawing which led to a passion for ergonomics. From 1962 he was the head of the Wellington Polytechnic School of Design, and educated design students in New Zealand about the science of ergonomics. He established a laboratory at the school for testing, measuring and recording data. In 1983 he was appointed to a teaching position in ergonomics at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne.

Coe died on 17 December 2003.

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