Exhibitions
Events
On display
Four caricatures by Leo Bensemann
Leo Bensemann Mischa Levitzki undated. Ink. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, presented to the Gallery by Mary Bensemann 1995
Art Bite
Past event
Meet in the exhibition
Free
Join the Gallery's librarian and archivist Tim Jones as he discusses Leo Bensemann's ink caricatures of Mischa Levitzki, Feodor Chaliapine (Don Quixote), Ester Levy and Mary Glover in Bad Hair Day.
Art Bites are 30-minute lunchtime presentations on a single work on display, presented by our staff, guides and guest speakers.
There's a new Art Bite to enjoy each Friday at 12.30pm.
Related
Exhibition
Bad Hair Day
4 June 2016 – 28 May 2017
Bad Hair Day investigates the wild and wonderful ways of hair through painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography and video.
Exhibition
Leo Bensemann: A Fantastic Art Venture
11 February – 22 February 2011
A comprehensive retrospective of the influential Canterbury artist and designer Leo Bensemann, who was at the centre of a dynamic revival in New Zealand art in the mid-twentieth century.
Article
Tomorrow, Book, Caxton Press, Landfall
In the decades before and after the Second World War, Christchurch experienced a remarkable artistic efflorescence that encompassed the visual arts, literature, music, theatre and the publishing of books and journals. And the phenomenon was noticed beyond these islands. For instance, in his 1955 autobiography, English publisher and editor of Penguin New Writing and London Magazine, John Lehmann, wrote (with a measure of exaggeration, perhaps) that of all the world’s cities only Christchurch at that time acted ‘as a focus of creative literature of more than local significance’.
Interview
Talking Bensemann
Leo Bensemann was one of the most respected figures in the Christchurch arts scene, and played a pivotal role in influential arts collective The Group. Always something of an odd-man-out, he produced a large body of work across several different disciplines before his death in 1986. In an attempt to get a fuller picture of the man himself, Gallery director Jenny Harper spoke to two artists who knew him well, John Coley and Quentin MacFarlane.
Artist Profile
Leo Bensemann: an art venture
Leo Bensemann (1912–1986) was a pivotal figure bridging the worlds of literature and visual arts – a go-between like no other. Peter Simpson is an authority on this distinctive artist.