B.
More PapersPast
Behind the scenes
Another six years of the Press have been digitised thanks to the National Library and Christchurch City Libraries
The years in question are 1929 to 1935 which are very significant for us because the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, our predecssor, opened in 1932. This means that the newspaper is full of details about its funding, construction and opening.
Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21065, 17 January 1934, Page 16
Here we have a group of tourists admiring the antirrhinums. The best article I have found so far - and there are literally thousands to choose from - is a visit by George Bernard Shaw. He admired the building but little of the art. Among the works he did like was one that we can't wait to see again:
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Collection
![Burial in the Winter on the Island of Marken [The Dutch Funeral]](/media/cache/58/29/58295f2c69a43061863860a247424aba.jpg)
Petrus van der Velden Burial in the Winter on the Island of Marken [The Dutch Funeral]
Research for the exhibition Closer (16 December 2017 – 19 August 2018) resulted in the restoration of this work's orginal title. In Dutch 'Begrafenis in den winter op het eiland Marken' and in English 'Burial in the winter on the island of Marken'.
Combining a wintry landscape with an equally bleak portrayal of loss, this painting has captivated many visitors since joining the Gallery’s collection in 1932. Small details, like snow-dusted shoes, noses red with cold, and a woman folded over by grief, are observed with such accuracy and tenderness by Petrus van der Velden that this funeral procession on an isolated Dutch island feels just as real as it looks. However, its most important figure – the reason for the gathering and for all the grief we see – remains unseen. The deceased, said to have been a drowned local fisherman, is present only in the dark shape of the coffin – and in the faces of those left behind.
(Absence, May 2023)