www.findnzartists.org.nz

 

Here in the library, the commonest question we get is Can you tell me something about this artist? This is usually because a painting has been found and, even if clearly signed, Google can tell you nothing.

So the next step in finding information about artists is to check in various books and indexes: Una Platts's Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists is often a first port of call, then perhaps the Canterbury Society of Arts records, the artist information on Te Papa's website, and a dozen other places.

So how useful would it be, we happy few art librarians thought, if you could check ALL these places at once, by combining the names that each mentions into one Superindex?

And so that is what we made. Check out Find NZ Artists for the most comprehensive list of New Zealand artists ever produced. Remember it's an index, so you won't find any art, but you will find leads to sources of information across the country.

Finding out about Rita Angus or Colin McCahon is dead easy (and they are certainly listed on Find NZ Artists) but the obscurer the artist, the more likely it is that this site will be the only place you can find them listed. And you'll get a lead to take your research further.

Read more about this project - a collaboration between the librarians at Christchurch and Auckland Art Galleries - and find out who these people are: