Rei Hamon
Francis Rei Paul Hamon was a landscape artist. He was self-taught in the style of pointillism, and his lithograph “Jewels of Okarito” was presented to Queen Elizabeth II by the New Zealand government during her state visit in 1976. He was later (1981) appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to art.
Rei was born on December 17, 1919, in Gisborne, New Zealand, the oldest of fourteen children. He died on August 16, 2008, in Thames, New Zealand. He became acquainted with the flora and fauna of the bush from the time that he worked splitting posts for sheep pens in the forests of the Urewera area.
He was the subject of a 2010 documentary, “Rei Hamon: Man of Nature.”
He and his wife, Maia Pohoiwi Weti were the parents of fourteen children. He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
