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
Notes
Zipp by Frances Hodgkins
‘I can't tell you the horror of the Blackout and the effects on your nerves - the want of ventilation at night is very tiring - perhaps the nastiest part of it all.' - Frances Hodgkins in a letter to her brother, William.
Notes
The Satara Player by Petrus van der Velden
Things are not always what they seem. What looks like the result of an artistic foray into exotic lands is, in fact, an 1894 portrait of a Christchurch busker who posed in the studio of Petrus van der Velden.
Notes
Drawing (KO WAI KOE?) by Ralph Hotere
This article first appeared in The Press on 28 March 2007
Among the highlights of the Christchurch Art Gallery's drawing collection is Drawing (KO WAI KOE?) by Otago artist Ralph Hotere. Produced in 1977 Drawing (KO WAI KOE?) illustrates Hotere's development from his formal geometric approach found in his earlier work of the late 1960s and early 1970s towards the more expressive manner he developed throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Notes
Vulcan Paradise by Jason Greig
This article first appeared in The Press on 5 April 2006
One of New Zealand's most significant contemporary printmakers, Jason Greig studied under Barry Cleavin and Denise Copland at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts during the early 1980s and graduated with Honours in Engraving. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s Greig favoured more technically challenging printmaking processes such as etching and lithography as opposed to the less complicated medium of the monoprint. It is the monoprint however that he has worked with almost exclusively over the past thirteen years.
Notes
A Summer Idyll by James Nairn
This article first appeared in The Press on 1 March 2006
The arrival of the Scottish artist James Nairn in New Zealand in 1890 is viewed by many as an important event in the history of New Zealand's art history. Nairn brought with him methods and approaches to art which provided fresh and vibrant perspectives to the established, conservative academic styles which had come to dominate New Zealand art throughout the mid to late 19th century.
Notes
Untitled (Hop Kilns, Motueka) by Rita Angus
This article first appeared in The Press on 28 December 2005
"Malt is the soul of beer and yeast gives it life but the kiss of the hop is the vitality of that life." Tom Inglis
Nelson has long held a strong reputation for growing excellent hops with a substantial industry based on the crop being developed in the region in the late 19th century. Motueka in particular has an extremely suitable climate for growing hops and the majority of New Zealand's hop production occurs within close proximity of the town. By the 1940s commercial production of hops had fully developed into a successful horticultural enterprise which Rita Angus has in part captured in her 1941 watercolour Untitled (Hop Kilns, Motueka).
Notes
Cats in the Trees by Eileen Mayo
The pair of domestic tigers slink slyly across the surface of the paper, prowling through the branches of a suburban tree, dispatching terror throughout the bird world and trepidation into the lives of assorted dogs.
Notes
Akaroa Harbour by William Watkins
This article first appeared in The Press on 17 November 2004
The 4th November 2004 marked the centennial anniversary of the death of the Canterbury artist, William Montague Nevin Watkins (1835-1904). Having lived in Akaroa for most of his life Watkins, known as ‘Will the artist' to his friends, produced a substantial body of paintings relating to Banks Peninsula, particularly of Akaroa's inner harbour. The scene which unfolds in Akaroa Harbour is one of the best known and loved views of Banks Peninsula. It is as popular with today's mosdern tourists who care to make the drive over the winding road from Little River to Barry's Pass, known as the Hilltop, as it was with travellers of the 19th century. The sweeping panorama offered from the vantage point of the Hilltop provides an impressive view of Akaroa's upper harbour with Barry's Bay and the distinctive tear drop shape of Onawe Peninsula directly below. Akaroa, nestled into the hills and valleys below Stony Bay Peak, is to be seen in the distance. The breathtaking scene invites the tourist to descend down into the harbour and explore the beautiful landscape below.