Exhibitions
Events
On display
Horse by Mary Barrett
Mary Barrett Horse c. 1936 Bronze. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, gift of the Bensemann Family, 2020
Art Bite
Meet in the exhibition
Join curator Peter Vangioni as he discusses Mary Barrett's bronze Horse in Dear Shurrie: Francis Shurrock and his contemporaries on the ground floor.
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 noon (except during public and school holidays).
Related reading: Free event
Exhibition
Dear Shurrie: Francis Shurrock and his contemporaries
8 March – 13 July 2025
The art, influence and friendships of sculptor and teacher Francis Shurrock.
Collection
Mary Barrett Horse
Mary Barrett was a promising sculpture student who flourished under Shurrock’s teaching at the art school during the 1930s. Her workbook records the detailed process of creating the original plaster version of Horse, which was cast in bronze later in her life. With its carefully observed and rendered anatomical details, Horse highlights a talented student with a promising future. Barrett married fellow artist Leo Bensemann in 1943, but, like many women of her generation had to largely give up her aspirations of becoming an artist to focus on supporting her husband’s career, being a mother and raising a family.
(Dear Shurrie: Francis Shurrock and his contemporaries, 8 March – 13 July 2025)
