This exhibition is now closed

Brought to Light: A New View of the Collection

February 2010 –
February 2011

Our upstairs collection galleries have undergone an exciting and dynamic redesign – the first full rehang of the collection since Christchurch Art Gallery opened in its new building in 2003.

Climb the stairs at the Gallery and you'll encounter a new view of the collection – completely reconfigured and refreshed.

Titled Brought to Light: A New View of the Collection, the exhibition features previously seldom-seen works, a great many new ones, and plenty of new conversations amongst old favourites.

The exhibition's title is inspired by the title of Fiona Pardington's suite of seven photographs, Mauria mai, tono ano, some of the first works you'll see in the space.

'Mauria mai, tono ano' translates from Māori as 'to bring to light, to claim again'. Each of the seven photographs depicts a Ngāi Tahu heitiki (greenstone pendant) from the Auckland Museum, presented at a scale closer to that of a painted portrait than a traditional archival photograph. The greenstone appears not to reflect light but to emit it; the forms shift and ripple like live things.

For any art institution charged with conserving the past, registering the present and offering suggestions for the future, the challenge to 'bring to light' is at once daunting and inspiring. Brought to Light is our response to that challenge.

Read the blog posts we wrote while this exhibition was being prepared.

Exhibition number: 835B

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Related

audio
Fiona Pardington

Fiona Pardington

Listen to Fiona Pardington discussing Mauria mai tono ano and The Charlotte Jane - currently featuring in Brought to Light. Recorded on Sunday 29 November 2009.

audio
Robin White on Florence and Harbour Cone and 28 days in Kiribati [Audio]

Robin White on Florence and Harbour Cone and 28 days in Kiribati [Audio]

Listen to artist Robin White as she discusses her two works: Florence and Harbour Cone and 28 days in Kiribati.

Recorded on Sunday 29 November 2009 as part of the exhibition Brought to Light.

audio
Brought to Light - The Connoisseur's Room

Brought to Light - The Connoisseur's Room

Listen to a live recording of Mary Kisler's floortalk in the Connoisseurs Room in Brought to Light. Recorded on Sunday 29 November 2009.

audio
Jenny Harper and John Reynolds

Jenny Harper and John Reynolds

Listen to a conversation between director Jenny Harper and artist John Reynolds, held as part of the opening weekend events around Brought to Light. Recorded on Sunday 29 November 2009.

film
Bill Culbert - Pacific flotsam

Bill Culbert - Pacific flotsam

Watch curator Justin Paton discussing Bill Culbert's Pacific flotsam

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He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil

He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil

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Our Collection: 19th and 20th Century New Zealand Art

Our Collection: 19th and 20th Century New Zealand Art

3 March 2018 – 3 March 2020

Our lively new historical collection exhibitions explore Māori architecture, colonial portraiture, early landscape painting and mid-century abstraction.

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<p>Storytellers</p>

Storytellers

November 2010 – June 2011

Storytellers explores the narrative genre popular during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and includes collection favourites such as van der Velden's The Dutch funeral.

Exhibition
Gembox

Gembox

29 August – 15 November 2009

While work continues on our brand-new collection exhibition, opening late November, Gembox offers a range of historical highlights from the Gallery's collection.

Exhibition
Ron O'Reilly: The Collector's Eye

Ron O'Reilly: The Collector's Eye

6 June – 26 July 2009

Nigerian sculptures meet paintings by 1950s and 1960s New Zealand modernists. Ron O'Reilly – Christchurch City Librarian from 1951 to 1968 – is recognised as a significant champion of the arts.

Exhibition
Suites from the Permanent Collection

Suites from the Permanent Collection

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5 x 3: Works from the Collection

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Contemporary NZ Sculpture from the Collection

Contemporary NZ Sculpture from the Collection

22 April – 17 July 1994

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Works from the Collection

19 July – 25 October 1992

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Fifty Works from the Collection

28 March – 13 May 1992

Commentary
Raising a Glass

Raising a Glass

Bill Culbert died aged 84 on 28 March this year at his home in the Vaucluse region of Provence. Built from dilapidated farm buildings on a small hilltop at a deserted hamlet called Croagnes, it’s a home that he and his wife Pip began to establish in 1961. Then, the region was a sparsely populated economic backwater – the Culberts bought the hilltop buildings for just £100. In the valleys and on the surrounding slopes were a few small vineyards and farms. A 1962 painting, Gerard Going to Work, shows their neighbour, the farmer Felix Gerard, trudging off down the stony hillside wearing a wide- brimmed hat like the one worn by Vincent van Gogh at Arles.

 

Continued

Notes
Pacific Flotsam

Pacific Flotsam

I was delighted to be asked by Judith Blackall, curator at Sydney's National Art School Gallery to speak at the opening of their new Bill Culbert exhibition earlier this month. We had lent our floor sculpture Pacific Flotsam and it features here on the poster. 

Notes
Wall to wall van der Velden

Wall to wall van der Velden

Right now, visitors to the Gallery have an excellent opportunity to view three key paintings by Petrus van der Velden in the current Brought To Light hang, and all without even having to take a single step.

Notes
New van der Velden painting on display

New van der Velden painting on display

Visitors to the Gallery will soon have the chance to see one of Petrus van der Velden's earliest works.

Notes
We won the top honours at the 2010 New Zealand Museums Awards!

We won the top honours at the 2010 New Zealand Museums Awards!

It's official, we won top honours in the Exhibition Excellence category at the 2010 New Zealand Museums Awards in New Plymouth last night.

Bill Culbert Pacific Flotsam (detail) 2007. Fluorescent light, electric wire, plastic bottles. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 2008. Image courtesy of Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth.

John Reynolds Table of Dynasties (detail) 2009. Oil paint stick on acrylic on canvas. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 2009. Reproduced courtesy of the artist

Brought to Light: A New View of the Collection

Brought to Light: A New View of the Collection

Brought to Light: A New View of the Collection

Brought to Light: A New View of the Collection