What’s On
Leo Bensemann: Paradise Garden
A collection of Leo Bensemann’s extraordinary Mohua Golden Bay landscape paintings.
New exhibition now open!
Edwards + Johann: Mutabilities—propositions to an unknown universe
He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil
Our new collection exhibition is now open.
Open 7 days, 10am - 5pm
Late night Wednesday until 9pm
Free entry, free wifi
Exhibition
Craig Potton: Floating on Ice
Craig Potton, one of New Zealand's most successful nature photographers, displays for the first time his photography of Antarctica's sublime Ross Ice Shelf.
Exhibition
Graphica Britannica
Highlights from the Rex Nan Kivell gift of prints by some of the most highly regarded British printmakers of the early to mid twentieth century.
Exhibition
Hotere: Empty of shadows and making a shadow
An exceptional survey of lithographs by one of New Zealand's greatest artists.
Exhibition
Suites from the Permanent Collection
An exhibition of print suites by contemporary New Zealand artists.
Exhibition
Coming Home in the Dark
Fourteen artists with connections to the Mainland are represented in an exhibition that explores the dark underbelly of the region's genteel appearance.
Exhibition
Goncharova and Larionov: L'Art Décoratif Théâtral Moderne
An exhibition of stage and costume designs by the Russian avant-garde artists Natal'ya Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov.
Exhibition
Alan Loney: Poet and Printer
A selection of books by Alan Loney, one of the foremost printers of hand-crafted books in Australasia. Includes finely printed examples of his work from Hawk Press, Blacklight Press, Holloway Press and Electio Editions.
Exhibition
Aus Australien
Experience outstanding examples of printmaking by eight leading contemporary Australian artists, working with a variety of techniques. Highlights include energised woodcuts by John Nixon and confrontational etchings by Mike Parr, two of Australia's foremost contemporary artists, and Jenny Watson's evocative Bottled Memories series.
Notes
Eternal Idol by Auguste Rodin
"One day, from up on the scaffolding where I was working on the Burghers of Calais, I noticed Rodin, who between some scenes, was doing a nude sculpture, for which the model was a young woman, stretched out on the table. As the session was drawing to a close, he bent over toward the woman and kissed her tenderly on her belly - a gesture of adoration of nature, which gave him so much joy."
Notes
Port Lyttelton, N.Z., March 9, 1874, from Nature by Thomas Cane
This article first appeared in The Press on 27 July 2005
2005 marks the centennial of the death of one of Canterbury's notable Victorian watercolourists and architects, Thomas Cane (1830 - 1905). Cane was born in Brighton, Sussex and prior to his arrival to Canterbury in 1873 he had trained as an architect and quantity surveyor under the firm of Banks and Barry. He was also employed by one of the masters of the Victorian Gothic Revival architectural style, Sir Gilbert Scott, who designed Christchurch's Anglican Cathedral. Cane travelled widely throughout Europe on several occasions visiting France, Germany, Belgium and Holland with the direct purpose of studying medieval architecture. He is likely to have developed his skills as a watercolourist while working as a architect, which would have required producing detailed sketches of building designs.