Leo Bensemann Pass in Winter (detail) 1971. Oil. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. Harry Courtney Archer estate, 2002. Reproduced with permission
Leo Bensemann Pass in Winter (detail) 1971. Oil. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. Harry Courtney Archer estate, 2002. Reproduced with permission
Leo Bensemann St Francis circa 1937. Oil on canvas board. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. Lawrence Baigent / Robert Erwin bequest, 2003. Reproduced with permission
Leo Bensemann Pass in Winter 1971. Oil. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. Harry Courtney Archer estate, 2002. Reproduced with permission
This exhibition is now closed
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.
This exhibition was originally scheduled to run from 11 February until 15 May 2011. Unfortunately its run was ended by the 22 February Christchurch earthquake. However, you can still buy the book in the Gallery Shop.
A comprehensive retrospective of an influential and talented Canterbury artist and designer. A painter of portraits and landscapes, Bensemann (1912–1986) is equally well known for his significant contribution to New Zealand graphic design and typography through his work with Christchurch's The Caxton Press. Bensemann was a colourful individual and iconoclast who was at the centre of a dynamic and broad-ranging artistic revival in New Zealand from the 1930s to the 1950s. Through his work at Caxton Press and with The Group, Bensemann provided an important connection between writers and artists and was closely associated with major figures such as artist Rita Angus, poet Denis Glover and composer Douglas Lilburn.
Exhibition number 865
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Date:
11 February – 22 February 2011 -
Exhibition number:
865
Collection works in this exhibition
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Commentary
The tide is in and the sea is like a blue mirror
I’ve always thought that if you’re a landscape artist, the working holiday must be the perfect getaway. You get to immerse yourself in an environment that may then become reflected in your art, a manifestation of your response and connection to a place. This was certainly the case for several Ōtautahi Christchurch landscape painters in the twentieth century: Doris Lusk and Onekakā, Bill Sutton and the Port Hills, Ivy Fife and the Canterbury High Country, Rita Angus and Wainui. For their close contemporary and friend Leo Bensemann it was Mohua Golden Bay, a landscape that had a profound effect on him when he holidayed there in the summer of 1965. It was a location he bonded with so much that he returned regularly to holiday and paint most summers for the rest of his life, in the process creating a remarkable body of over sixty paintings of the region.
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.
Notes
Leo Bensemann's centenary
Today is the centenary of the birth of Canterbury artist Leo Bensemann and Peter Simpson, Leo's biographer, has contributed an insightful article on the Christchurch Art Gallery's collection of Leo Bensmann's work which you can read here.
Notes
40 Years of Leo Bensemann
A wonderful collection of paintings by Leo Bensemann opened in Christchurch last night at W.T. MacAlister Gallery.
Notes
Huntsbury Press
The Gallery was very fortunate to receive a collection of books from Leo Bensemann's library this week.
Notes
Wharariki Dreaming
Located at the top of the South Island's West Coast, near Cape Farewell, Wharariki Beach is a stunning area where the land meets the sea in dramatic fashion.
Notes
The next best thing
We had three great exhibitions on display in February. De-Building, Van der Velden: Otira and Leo Bensemann: A Fantastic Art Venture all opened within three weeks of the earthquake, and all three had their runs cut very short.
Notes
Light work
With Leo Bensemann: A Fantastic Art Venture set to open at the Gallery in February, I've been working on Bensemann's St Olaf to get it ready for exhibition.