Collection
A Cow

Artist Unknown, Balthazar Paul Ommeganck A Cow

This cow belongs to an ancient breed of cattle, once common in Belgium and the Netherlands, but now almost extinct. Called the Kempens rund (Campine cattle), it was bred for milk, cheese, butter and beef; its numbers were greatly reduced during World War I when the farming area where they lived became a battlefield.

This painting is probably by the Flemish painter Balthazar Paul Ommeganck. He was one of many admirers of the Dutch seventeenth-century painter Paulus Potter, who had started something new in painting by making farm animals his main subjects, rather than minor, incidental elements.

(Beasts, 2015)

Notes
My Sister My Self by Michael Parekowhai

My Sister My Self by Michael Parekowhai

This article first appeared with the headline Top-stair sculpture in The Press on 30 April 2008.

If you've done your first year art history, you're probably familiar with the story of How Sculpture Fell from Grace.

Notes
Cats in the Trees by Eileen Mayo

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
Povi Christkeke by Michel Tuffery

Povi Christkeke by Michel Tuffery

Povi Christkeke (Christchurch Bull), a large bullock constructed from flattened and riveted re-cycled corned beef tins, is a colourful and seemingly celebratory sculpture. Artist Michel Tuffery constructed two of these corned beef bull sculptures for a ritual performance entitled Pisupo Lua Afe at the 1997 Christchurch Arts Festival. Pisupo Lua Afe was also included at the inaugural Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane 1993.