Exhibitions
Events
On display
Dear Shurrie: Francis Shurrock and his Contemporaries

Francis Shurrock Portrait Head of Christopher Perkins 1932. Bronze. Collection of Dunedin Public Art Gallery, purchased with the John Edmund Fund, 1940.
Talk
Meet in the exhibition
Free
Curators Peter Vangioni and Felicity Milburn introduce this new exhibition on the art, influence and friendships of sculptor and teacher Francis Shurrock.
Francis Shurrock (1887–1977), fondly known as Shurrie, was liked and respected by his students and contemporaries. As an inspirational, intellectually ambitious lecturer at the Canterbury College School of Art from 1924 to 1949, he introduced a welcome spirit of modernism and self-expression. Many of the young artists who flourished under his guidance, such as Chrystabel Aitken, Florence Akins, Rita Angus, Jim Allen, Alison Duff, Molly Macalister and Fred Staub, later helped shape the visual culture of this country. This fascinating, convivial exhibition features sculptures, paintings and prints by Shurrock, his students and some of the notable contemporaries who socialised and shared ideas during regular gatherings at the Shurrock home.