Philip Robert Presants

Philip Robert Presants (18 December 1867 – 27 October 1942) was a chromolithographer, designer and painter in New Zealand. He became Chief Artist of The Press in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was heavily involved in the New Zealand International Exhibition, as a member of the Decorative Committee and the Fine Arts Committee. He also designed the programme booklet and exhibited his own work. He died in 1942 in London.

Philip Robert Presants was born on 18 December 1867 in Norwich, England to Philip Thomas Presants and Emma née Gibbs. In 1890 Philip R. Preasants (sic), an apprentice architectural draughtsman, gained a Government Scholarship and a Third Prize for a 'Head from the Antique in Sepia'. He worked at Page Brothers (commercial lithographers) in Norwich, where a colleague (Alfred Munnings, later Sir Alfred) recollected: "He was an enthusiast and he helped me on". Like Alfred Munnings, Presants had studied at the Norwich School of Art and Design (now Norwich University of the Arts), and one of his studies is available online. Presants was living at Ethel Terrace, Hall Road, Lakenham at the time of his marriage in 1892 and had business premises in 7 Bury St, Norwich, as indicated on some extant letterhead, referring to himself as a 'chromolithographic artist & designer to the trade.' The family emigrated to New Zealand on the 'SS Rimutaka', operated by the New Zealand Shipping Company, in 1897.

Presants worked for The Press in Christchurch, New Zealand from about 1898 to 1909 as a chromolithographer and became Chief Artist by 1899. Four promotional photos from this period, held at Alexander Turnbull Library, show Presants at work with the large fine-grained stone blocks he imported from Germany. He printed a calendar for the New Zealand Shipping Company in 1899 and a copy is held at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Presants was responsible for a series of full-page colour lithographs in the Christmas editions of the Weekly Press ca. 1899–1907. Many of these works depict Māori subjects surrounded by endemic flowers and foliage and are available for inspection at the Alexander Turnbull Library. Although he was best known for his skills in chromolithography he was a designer and painter, working in watercolours and oils. One of his own art works entitled 'Young New Zealand at play: cricket in a mining town' was used as a colour supplement to The Press in 1899.

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