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World No Tobacco Day

Behind the scenes

Today is the World Health Organization's 2012 No Tobacco Day.

The WHO's theme this year is Tobacco industry interference and they will be highlighting attempts by the tobacco industry to impede initiatives such as plain packaging and restrictions on advertising and sponsorship.

Image

A great many portraits in our collection come from a time when having a cigarette in one's hand was as normal as breathing. It was an entirely neutral thing, and indicated precisely nothing about gender, age, background, wealth or values - as these two well-known works attest:

Louise Henderson Portrait of Betty Curnow 1954. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 1972Reproduced with permission

Louise Henderson Portrait of Betty Curnow 1954. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 1972
Reproduced with permission

Marti Friedlander Tony Fomison / Philp Clairmont. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 1998. Reprodcued courtesy of Marti Friedlander.

Marti Friedlander Tony Fomison / Philp Clairmont. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 1998. Reprodcued courtesy of Marti Friedlander.