Kā Kaupapa o te Wā
What’s On
Raymond McIntyre: A Modernist View
New exhibition now open.
Living Archives
Archives that tell stories about artists and history in Aotearoa
Whāia te Taniwha
Māori artists consider the enduring relevance of taniwha in Aotearoa.
E tuwhera ana te wharetoi i kā rā e 7 o te wiki, 10am - 5pm
Ka tuwhera ki te 9pm i kā pō Wenerei
Open 7 days, 10am - 5pm
Late night Wednesday until 9pm
Uruka utukore, ahokore utukore
Free entry, free wifi
Collection
E. Mervyn Taylor Kingfisher
Aotearoa’s best-known and respected printmaker working during the twentieth century, Mervyn Taylor produced at least 239 wood-engravings over the course of his career, and many more linocuts as well. He initially worked as a jeweller, for which his training included engraving. Unlike his contemporaries who trained at art schools throughout the country and abroad, Mervyn was self-taught. His prints focused on subjects that were unique to Aotearoa at a time when a national identity was at the forefront of Pākehā art, including elements from Māori culture as well as landscapes and native flora and fauna. His wood-engravings remain popular and are highly sought after.
Ink on Paper: Aotearoa New Zealand Printmakers of the Modern Era, 11 February – 28 May 2023
Collection
E. Mervyn Taylor Ruru (Morepork)
At dusk, and throughout the night, the quiet of the kahere is often pierced by the melancholic two-note call of the ruru. Also known as the morepork, this small, speckled owl can be found in forests throughout the mainland and offshore islands of Aotearoa New Zealand. With bright yellow eyes blazing from a dark mask, it is known in te ao Māori as a watchful guardian. In this exquisitely detailed woodcut by Mervyn Taylor, one of Aotearoa’s most highly regarded twentieth-century printmakers, the ruru meets our gaze from a high perch amongst tangled branches, the moonlight glinting across each feather of its speckled chest.
kahere ~ forest
te ao Māori ~ the Māori world
(He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil, 2025)
Collection
Francis A. Shurrock Poppies
Poppies, a symbol of sacrifice on the battlefield, is a poignant image that reflects Francis Shurrock’s own experiences serving on the Western Front during World War I, as well as those of his comrades and adversaries. Bringing his skills as a sculptor to carving the lino block was a natural fit for Francis, as the strong design of this print clearly shows.
Ink on Paper, 11 February – 28 May 2023
Collection
Jane Zusters Two shirts
This photograph shows the attention that Jane Zusters paid to the visibility of queer relationships in her work from the 1970s. Tropical shirts and warm holiday tones reveal the casual bliss of shared living. Jane uses her camera to frame and crop, complicating what we can know about the individual people in them. Instead, the connection to someone else is what becomes important. Embracing arms and hands wrap around each other, forming bodies into joined entities.
(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- 21 July 2024)
Collection
![Mother and Child [Rhoda and baby]](/media/cache/43/e5/43e5d97eac051a1c9e2dde1aad9a2021.jpg)
Jane Zusters Mother and Child [Rhoda and baby]
Ōtautahi artist Jane Zusters works across painting, photography and ceramics. These recently acquired photographs capture Jane’s bohemian life and friends in Christchurch in the late-1970s, and precede a period when she was mainly painting. Tender and intimate, they give us a sense of warm friendships and a supportive community, despite the conservatism of Christchurch at the time, and they address queer histories, gender and identity. Portrait of a woman marrying herself challenges the expectation that women should marry, presenting instead a ceremony of self-care and respect. We see a truncated nude figure in the pool, staying afloat through curling her toes under the handrail; her friend breastfeeding her child; and another friend dressing up. While these works share the formal elements of her painting, such as strong composition, contrast or colour, they are also an important social record of the times.
(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- )
Collection
Jane Zusters Life drawing at Jane's place, 49 Effingham St, North Beach
Ōtautahi Christchurch artist Jane Zusters is a painter, photographer and ceramicist. These recently acquired photographs capture Jane’s bohemian life and friends in Christchurch in the late 1970s, and precede a period when she was mainly painting. Tender and intimate, they give us a sense of warm friendships and a supportive community, despite the conservatism of Christchurch at the time, and they address queer histories, gender and identity.
We see artists gathering for a life-drawing session at Jane’s house in North Beach, their coffee cups resting on woven mats as they sketch; and a topless friend, Margaret Flaws, casually holding the guy ropes of a tent in Punakaiki, her arms outstretched like a crucifix. While these works share the formal elements of her painting, such as strong composition and contrast, they are also an important social record of the times.
(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- 21 July 2024)