NEW ZEALAND ART BOOKS
Rita Angus: Life and Vision - In July 2008, Te Papa will celebrate the centenary of Rita Angus's birth with a major new exhibition of her work. This catalogue will be the first to acknowledge Angus's status as an artist, with full-page colour reproductions of every work included in the show. Drawing on public and private collections, it will present a range of Angus' work never seen before, from iconic paintings like Rutu (1951), Cass (1936) and Flight (1969) to Angus's celebrated and intriguing self-portraits, and previously undocumented works in a surprising range of media and styles. A substantial introduction places Rita Angus as a pioneer of modern painting in New Zealand and examines her legacy. Fourteen writers and critics present all-new criticism on every period of the artist's work, revealing what makes Rita Angus so significant - her vision, her virtuosity and above all her commitment.
Artists' Impressions of New Zealand - Denis Robinson's latest offering is something of an artist's road trip - a journey from the top to the bottom of New Zealand through the paintings of nearly 60 artists. The tour begins with Northland and runs cross-country to the south of the South Island. Work from more than one artist highlights the nuances of each particular region or city. There are 20 regions covered in the book, with an additional focus on the four main cities, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch - including a commemorative selection of paintings - and Dunedin. The artists have submitted work that expresses their creative or emotional response to places they know well. In the captions they tell the 'story' behind every painting. There is a wide variety of techniques displayed in the work, and often this seems related to place, like central Otago, which attracts more oil painters than Wellington, where watercolourists dominate the painting landscape. All in all, Denis Robinson has once again achieved a portfolio of striking artworks that not only demonstrates the deep well of artistic talent in this country, but also reflects the scenic beauty that surrounds us.
Native Wit - Native Wit, Keith's witty, revealing memoir, gives readers an insight into his well-lived, rich and immensely varied life. Whether as a confrere of Colin McCahon, the chairman of the Arts Council, husband of Oscar-wining film costume designer Ngila Dickson, bon vivant and accomplished chef or arch enemy of doddering bureaucrats, Keith has a dynamic personality and a trenchant analysis that makes him a pleasure to read.
Rita Angus: An Artist's Life - Rita Angus was a pioneer of modern painting during the 1930s and 1940s who went on to become one of New Zealanda??s leading 20th century artists. Today, more than 100 years after her birth, works such as Rutu (1951) Central Otago (1940) and Portrait of Betty Curnow (1941-1942) have become national icons, while Angus is perhaps New Zealand's best-loved painter. Yet the story of her life remains little known and poorly understood, and until now little has been written about it. In this revelatory and subtle book, Jill Trevelyan traces Angus's entire life, from her childhood in Napier and Palmerston North to her death in Wellington in 1970. Drawing on a wealth of newly available archives and letters, she brings to life Rita Angus the person: highly articulate and full of zest, intellectually curious and forthright in her attitudes and emotions, powerfully committed to her pacifist and feminist beliefs and dedicated, above all, to life as an artist. Rita Angus: An Artist's Life is generously illustrated with more than 150 artworks and private photographs to bring Angus - her private struggles and public reputation and her greatest legacy, her art - to complex, colourful life.
Artists at Work: New Zealand Painters & Sculptors in the Studio - This book is a rare and fascinating picture of contemporary New Zealand artists in their studios. It provides new insights into the practical aspects of how artists embark on their creative processes. The 24 painters and sculptors were chosen by well-known writer and art commentator Richard Wolfe and photographer Stephen Robinson. The exciting line-up includes established names like Stanley Palmer, Paul Dibble, Jacqueline Fahey and Dick Frizzell as well as up-and-coming artists such as Tracey Tawhiao, Heather Straka and Andrew McLeod. Collectively, they represent a rich diversity of styles and a broad geographic spread through the country. Artists @ Work makes a unique contribution to our understanding and appreciation of our artists and their work, to be treasured by every New Zealand art lover.
How to Look at a Painting - Acclaimed art writer Justin Paton takes us on a journey of exploration through the centuries and across the painted world - from the luscious fruit of Italy's Caravaggio to the lonely landscapes of New Zealand's Rita Angus, the dazzling panoramas of America's Lari Pittman and the mysterious 'tombstones' of Japanese artist On Kawara. Whether you're a keen art collector, a serious student or just visit a gallery occasionally, this brilliant exposition of painting in all its forms will open your eyes to things you've never seen before.
Inner Landscapes: 15 New Zealand Artists with Canterbury Connections - Speaking revealingly and eloquently, 15 of New Zealand's top contemporary artists discuss more than 60 of their best works of art in this collection of candid interviews. Including paintings, sculptures, prints, and digital compositions, each artist openly discusses their work, as well as their lives and the creative process. Featuring previously unpublished photographs of the artists and their studios, art aficionados and students alike will enjoy this open look into the artistic process
Home and Away: Chartwell Collection- The Chartwell Collection comprises 600 works of contemporary Australian and New Zealand art, and is the largest collection of its kind in the world. Established in 1974, it includes paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs by some of Australia's leading artists. This book reproduces 48 key works to show the richness and diversity of the collection, and traces its various themes. "Home and Away" features the work of artists such as Colin McCahon and Ralph Hotere, as well as young contemporaries such as Micheal Parekowhai and Stephen Bambury.
Art at Te Papa - Art at Te Papa reveals and illuminates New Zealand's vast national art collection. Reproductions of more than 400 individual artworks, personally selected by curators, are accompanied by brief essays giving expert and engaging commentary on each work. This book spans the entire collection, from the cream of its early European prints holdings to its most exciting contemporary acquisitions. Here are international artworks by Rembrandt van Rijn, Albrechet Durer, Marcel Duchamp, Barbara Hepworth, Natalie Gontchorova and Robert Mapplethorpe, alongside masterpieces from some of New Zealand's most significant and best-loved artists - Charles Goldie, Rita Angus, Ralph Hotere, Colin McCahon, Frances Hodgkins, Bill Hammond, Shane Cotton and Yvonne Todd - as well as little-known artworks that will surprise and inform readers. From the iconic to the unknown, from printmaking to post-object art, the history of the national art collection is part of the story of Aotearoa New Zealand itself - its landscapes, its people and its developing national identity. The first to tell that story, Art at Te Papa is a significant resource and a genuine treasure for all New Zealanders and lovers of art.
Drawing the Waitakere Coast - In 2008 the famous painter Don Binney completed a suite of 24 absolutely charming coloured pencil drawings of Auckland's West Coast, from Huia to Te Henga (Bethells). They are evocative of the coast so many New Zealanders love and they are magnificent works in themselves. They are accompanied by text that takes the reader on an imaginary journey from Huia to Te Henga, commenting on the landmarks shown in each of the drawings. They also draw on Binney's extensive contact with this coast and with the Waitakeres in general: in early adulthood he tramped and camped throughout the area, he was a founder member of the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society and he has often used his art to underpin his conservation-activist work. The book is a beautiful keepsake - small and perfectly formed, as the drawings are. Deliberately inexpensive, it is accessible to all. Lovers of the west will find it completely enchanting.
The Art of Peter Siddell - Sir Peter Siddell's intricately detailed paintings of New Zealand urban scenes and landscapes that are not quite a replication of actuality are much loved and enduringly popular. Both technical tours de force and rich with acute observation, they feature in all our national art collections and never fail to fascinate. This major book, the first to ever bring his work together, celebrates both Siddell's life and his art, with 150 images, and an essay by both Sir Peter himself and the renowned art historian Professor Michael Dunn.
Seen This Century: 100 Contemporary New Zealand Artists - In our recent history never have there been more artists, more dealer galleries or more auction houses. Art is the new commerce, collecting the new passion. Warwick Brown published 100 New Zealand Artists and Another 100 New Zealand Artists in the early 1990s to great acclaim and now he's back with a book that taps into the vigorous art market in a canny manner. Taking 100 artists who have come to prominence since 2000 (hence the word play of Seen This Century) he gives the collector an invaluable tool by highlighting who is on the rise, who will become the next big thing and whose work should be bought now before prices skyrocket. Carefully selected using a range of filters to come up with the 100, this chunky book has four pages on each artist (including a 450-word text and a generous sampling of their work) and is designed in an appealing, fresh, crisp, catalogue style.
Contemporary New Zealand Art 5 - This is the fifth book in this series, showcasing 24 of New Zealand's established and up-and-coming artists working in a variety of media. Along with a selection of each artist's work, there is a brief biography and an interpretation of the works shown. Includes Neil Pardington, Stanley Palmer, Jude Rae and many more.
Contemporary New Zealand Art 4 - Contemporary New Zealand Art 4 is the final book in a series that offers readers a comprehensive view of New Zealand artists working at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries. This volume features over 100 artworks reproduced in full colour representing twenty artists, both established and emerging, working in a variety of media - painting, photography, sculpture, installation and multimedia. Contemporary New Zealand Art 4 as with previous volumes shows a selection of each artist's work - the art they produced early in their careers and the art they are producing now ? providing visual references to the development of the work of individuals as well as the evolution of contemporary New Zealand art over the last few decades. There is a brief biography of each artist and interpretation of the works shown along with a list of exhibitions in which the artist has participated. It is an important book for anyone interested in New Zealand art.
Contemporary New Zealand Art: Volume 3 - The third book in a series that offers readers a comprehensive view of New Zealand artists working at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries. This volume features over 100 artworks reproduced in full colour representing twenty artists, both established and emerging, working in a variety of media - painting, photography, sculpture, installation and multimedia. "Contemporary New Zealand Art 3" and subsequent volumes show a selection of each artist's work in full colour - the art they produced in their pasts and the art they are producing now - providing visual references to the development of the work of individuals as well as the evolution of contemporary New Zealand art over the last few decades. There is a brief biography of each artist and interpretation of the works shown along with a list of exhibitions in which the artist has participated. It is a book for all ages and levels in New Zealand art.
New Zealand Contemporary Art - Offers a comprehensive view of New Zealand art at the end of the 20th century. The book explores the work of 20 established and emerging artists working in a variety of media, from painting and photography to sculpture, installation and multimedia. A selection of each artist's work is included. Gretchen Albrecht, Tony Lane and Robin White are among the artists featured.
Contemporary New Zealand Art: v. 1 - This is the first of a series of books that provides a comprehensive view of New Zealand artists working at the end of the 20th century. The volume features over 100 artworks, representing 20 artists working in a variety of media - painting, photography, sculpture, installation and multimedia. Along with a selection of each artist's work, there is a brief biography and an interpretation of the pieces shown
Whatu Kakahu: Maori Cloaks - Weaving is more than just a product of manual skills. From the simple rourou (food basket) to the prestigious kahukiwi (kiwi feather cloak), weaving is endowed with the very essence of the spiritual values of Maori people. The first Maori settlers brought the knowledge of weaving with them. In Aotearoa they found new plant materials, including the versatile harakeke (New Zealand flax). They also incorporated feathers from birds and the skin and hair of their dogs. They wove practical items necessary for everyday life. But they also wove exceptional items such as fine mats and wall panels and, above all, kakahu (cloaks) of immense significance, which bestow mana (prestige) on both weaver and wearer. This major new publication opens the storeroom doors of the Te Papa Tongarewa Maori collections, illuminating the magnificent kakahu in those collections and the art and tradition of weaving itself. Five, informative chapters, each written by an expert contributor, reveal the history and significance of weaving, every page sumptuously illustrated with detailed, all-new photographs by Te Papa photographer Norm Heke. In addition, forty rare and precious kakahu are featured specially within this book, with glossy colour detail illustrations of each, plus historical and contextual images and graphic diagrams of weaving techniques. These are accompanied by engaging descriptions bringing together information on every cloak - its age, materials, and weaving technique with quotes from master weavers and other experts, stories of the cloaks, details of their often remarkable provenance. A full glossary, illustrated guide to cloak types, and index are included.
Off the Wall: The World of Wearable Art - One of the most interesting cultural phenomena in New Zealand over the past 22 years has been the spectacular success of the World of Wearable Art, an annual competition and award show that explores the intersection of fashion and art, through a genre popularly known as wearable art. This unique event, which draws an audience in Wellington of around 40,000 people, has encouraged an explosion of creative activity, inspiring a wide range of fashion designers, artists, costume makers and other craft artists from all over the world to participate. The range of garments produced for this event is breathtaking, as the rules of competition mean that anything of quality that is in any way wearable can find a place on the catwalk. What this also means is that the garments are constructed from an extraordinary array of materials - car parts, wood shavings, zips, silk, potato chip packets, seaweed, slices of toast, old telephone posts, paper clips, corrugated iron, gloves, feathers - the list is endless. As well, the thematic range is impressive, with a dizzying amalgam of ideas and influences, including metamorphism, concepts around entrapment and blindness, eroticism and fetish, Pacifica, fantasy and flight. Off The Wall is the third edition of this truly original visual design sourcebook. Completely revised with all new photographs, and a new format, it features the best garments that have been entered over recent years in a remarkable celebration of the diversity and creativity of wearable art. Anyone with an interest in fashion, design and the craft arts will find this book inspirational.
Stitch: Textile Art in New Zealand - Stitch: Textile art in New Zealand is a stunningly beautiful, comprehensive book featuring work by the best fibre and textile artists currently practising in New Zealand, along with portraits of ten in their studio or workspace. It covers a wide range of textile crafts, from finely detailed lace and woven beading to flax weaving and full-scale fabric art in public places, created by around 60 artists as geographically far-flung as Kerikeri, Karamea and the Catlins. Approximately 150 different objects will be photographed and presented. This book has come about because of a desire to showcase the very best of what New Zealand's textile and fibre artists are doing today, and also because of an understanding that many New Zealanders are passionate about textile and fibre art and are poorly served by current books. Stitch: Textile art in New Zealand focuses on the objects and their makers. Each object is lovingly photographed and the book design honours these objects and give sample space to them.
Art Icons of New Zealand: Lines in the Sand - Certain images, art objects and art styles have embedded themselves in the consciousness of many New Zealanders. But why and how have they become part of our visual vocabulary? Oliver Stead has had the difficult task of not only selecting 40 of these iconic works but putting them into a context of New Zealand art history.
Fiona Pardington: The Pressure of Sunlight Falling - European explorers of the Pacific in the 18th and early 19th centuries faced a problem - how to describe the people they met and report what they had seen and found. From Cook onwards, a serious expedition included artists and scientists in its ship's company. An ambitious journey of the 19th century was the third voyage of the French explorer Dumont d'Urville, from 1837 to 1840. It was just before the invention of photography, when phrenology, the study of people's skulls, was the latest thing. D'Urville chose to take on the voyage an eminent phrenologist, Pierre-Marie Dumoutier, to preserve likenesses of people by making life casts. When the expedition returned to France, the casts were displayed, and later stored in the Musee de l'Homme in Paris, to be joined eventually by other casts from Dumoutier's collection, including those of the d'Urville and Dumoutier families. All were overtaken by photography and history. Fiona Pardington first learnt of the life casts in 2007, when a chance conversation initiated a four-year project. It took her from Auckland to the Musee de l'Homme, as she researched and photographed some of more than fifty casts of Maori, Pacific and European heads, including casts of her Ngai Tahu ancestors. This book publishes these photographs and coincides with the opening of a major travelling exhibition. The photographs are extraordinarily beautiful, evocative and spiritually powerful images. They recover likenesses and revive the life force of Dumoutier's subjects, eliciting our empathy and fascination with a world we can never really know. This is a rich and engaging book. With essays by leading scholars in Pacific history, art and photography, on subjects as diverse as phrenology and cast-making, the voyage, and the identity of the Maori casts, it will appeal to anyone interested in nineteenth-century encounters between voyagers and the peoples of the Pacific, or contemporary art and photography.
New Art Now: Contemporary Art in Australia and New Zealand - Internationally, art fairs are becoming one of the highlights of the serious art collector's year. Audiences see them as a supercharged environment for sampling the latest and dealers love the business they do. Indeed, some say about 25 percent of their sales happen at their stalls at the fairs. But we're not talking amateur art here. At the third Auckland Art fair to be held at the Viaduct in May 2009, the 40 exhibiting dealers are the real heavy hitters of the scene, from both sides of the Tasman. The Auckland Art Fair grows in stature each year. The record number of premier Australian galleries exhibiting, and the expected large number of Australian collectors attending, in 2009 is testimony to the interest in our artists Australian collectors have. New Art Now serves as the catalogue for the fair (which always kicks off with a glamorous opening-night vernissage featuring a keynote speaker) and is also a fantastic way to be informed on trends, issues and themes in contemporary art on both sides of the Tasman. The six essays (three by leading New Zealand art writers and curators, three by Australians) especially commissioned for the book offer a sparkling, lively and expert survey of the scene.
It's All About The Image - Take a trip through New Zealand art via Dick Frizzell's point of view. He shines a light on some of the works he's always loved - a number of which have seemed to miss muster in the usual round-ups. It's an eclectic bunch of paintings and begins with images he was drawn to (because that's what it was all about.images) back before he was told what he'd be better off looking at. From Peter McIntyre inviting him up onto the scaffolding to watch him painting the WWII mural in the Hastings War Memorial Library, through to discovering modern art at art school, his first sighting of a McCahon, teaching at Elam with talented students like Karl Maughan and discovering the brightest of bring young things today - this is a wonderful journey. Written in Dick's self-proclaimed gonzo style, this is a fascinating discussion of art history through the eyes of our most mainstream populist artist. Examines the stars of NZ painting in a colloquial and revelatory way.
Dick Frizzell: The Painter - Dick Frizzell's images populate our world - you find them on t-shirts, on TV ads, in shop windows, on wine bottles, on cushions and t-towels, and in art shows. People appropriate (or borrow) his images in much the same way that he too appropriated many of the images he has painted over the years. He's reached iconic status in NZ - we love him, he's one of our own. As Dick himself says with a surprised chuckle, "I'm just like the Topp Twins now - I can do no wrong, they all love me!" Dick has a great story: After going to art school he found himself in his 20s married and with a young family to support. He worked in advertising until 1974, when his artistic urges made him leave the ad agency to take up working in the vege markets in the early hours of the day so that he could pursue his art. His paintings combined the pragmatics of an adman's need for a compelling motif with the visceral pleasures of expressive modernist paintings. His first images of gaudy fish-tin labels and comic strip characters caught everyone's imaginations. Dick's talent, energy and his deadpan humour meant that his art was highly successful. Dick Frizzell: The Painter contains all of his major paintings, the story of his life in his own thoughtful and highly articulate words, and an essay by Hamish Keith on Dick's work and its place in the New Zealand art world
Art New Zealand Today: Sixty Exhibiting New Zealand Artists - A visual introduction to, and biographical stats on, 60 of New Zealands successful working artists.Since its publication in 2002, this book has become one of the best-selling books on contemporary New Zealand art yet published.It offers a window to the world of the exciting, progressive art of this region.
The Big Picture: The History of New Zealand Art from 1642 - 1642? Yes, we have an art history that dates back that far, to the engravings made during Tasman's voyage that depict the first contact between European and Maori. In this tautly, provocatively and passionately argued history, leading art commentator Hamish Keith takes readers on a fascinating and illuminating exploration of our culture, of how artists and their works have provided the language that describes a fascinating and sometimes exhilarating account of peoples creating a new culture out of the old cultures they brought here with them, and then using that new culture to adapt and respond to new waves of people arriving with new old things. With over 300 illustrations, this remarkable survey of New Zealand's art and culture is indispensable to our understanding of who we are. "Do adjust your sets. In The Big Picture, Hamish Keith, with his brisk, personal text will force you to refocus when you think about our cultural history. What I especially like is the book s accessibility, and the audacity with which the author shapes strong opinions from his long association with New Zealand's art, literature and history." - Gordon McLauchlan
The Desire of the Line: Ralph Hotere Figurative Works - A simple and elegant book of around 100 pages on the line drawings and paintings of women which Hotere has produced from 1959 through to the late 1990s. The works fall into three groups, the largest of which is from the Woman series, sensual, beautiful images, mostly nudes, making superb use of line. Carnival is a small group of works on paper depicting the annual carnival in Avignon and Nice and conveying, in line and rich colour, a sense of the grotesque and the frenetic; the Song Cycle works were originally drawn for a stage performance in 1975 and suggest movement and sound. This book will accompany an exhibition to be shown at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in August 2005 which may well subsequently tour to other cities. It will include a 5000-word essay and approximately 120 reproductions, some in colour; there will also be a catalogue of works, a list of works, bibliography and list of illustrations. Baker presents an aspect of this popular artist?s work that is little known and which will have great appeal: the drawings are captivating and also richly varied; they contrast vividly with the large abstract works for which Hotere is better known.
The Art of Maori Weaving: The Eternal Thread/Te Aho Mutunga Kore - Miriama Evans (Ngati Mutunga, Ngai Tahu) is one of the Spiral Collective that first published Keri Hulme's The Bone People in 1983. She was a co-editor of The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Poetry, Nga Kupu Titohu o Aotearoa in 1989. Ranui Ngarimu (Ngati Mutunga, Ngai Tahu) is a weaver using traditional Maori technology. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She is the current Chairperson of Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa, the National Maori Weavers Collective of New Zealand.
Contemporary NZ & Australian Jewellery - Available 20th October 2012
The Painted Garden in New Zealand Art - From James Busby on, European settlers made gardens from the moment they set foot on New Zealand soil, and of course Maori had extensive cultivations of kumara around their kainga. Many settler gardens were matters of survival - kitchen gardens on which families were reliant - but as individual circumstances allowed and prosperity spread, many gardens became increasingly ambitious and extensive. It is hardly surprising that artists were drawn to depicting them, as they have from the 1820s right through to the present day. This collection of 100 delightful works, selected by Christopher Johnstone, author of the highly successful LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS OF NEW ZEALAND: A JOURNEY FROM NORTH TO SOUTH, tells the story of our gardening history as it intersected with our cultural and artistic development. Beautifully packaged and carefully researched, it is a treasure trove of magnificent images, many of gardens now lost to the passage of time.
Angels and Aristocrats: Early European Art in New Zealand Public Collections - It is entirely possible to immerse oneself in the glories of European art without having to travel to the Louvre, the Uffizzi, the Tate or the Frick. That's because New Zealand's public art galleries are richly studded with works collected by benefactors over the last 150 years and generously gifted to the nation. Many are infrequently seen and the richness of the collections often goes unacknowledged. In this outstanding book, respected curator Mary Kisler delves into the storerooms and reintroduces our historic art treasures (and those generous individuals who collected them) to us. Superbly illustrated, accessibly written and meticulously researched, Angels and Aristocrats is both a long-overdue celebration of magnificent and important works and also an indispensible and expert guide to art history.
The Art of War: New Zealand War Artists in the Field, 1939-1945 - In the first book of its kind, author Jenny Haworth shows World War II through the eyes of five of New Zealand's commissioned war artists - Peter McIntyre, Austen Deans, Russell Clark, Allan Barns-Graham and John McIndoe. Stationed to the areas where New Zealand soldiers were fighting in the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific and Europe, these five men saw it as their duty to depict the war in line with the government's attempt to reassure those at home. Beautifully illustrated throughout with large full-colour reproductions of each artist's work, as well as numerous drawings and photos.
Wearing Ink: Art of Tattoo in New Zealand - Through the work of 20 of New Zealand's best tattoo artists and photography, this book presents some of the best examples of tattoo art in New Zealand, including traditional Maori and Polynesian designs.
Joanna Margaret Paul: Drawing - Co-published by the Mahara Gallery, Joanna Margaret Paul: Drawings has been designed to accompany an exhibition of Joanna Paul's drawings touring to around a dozen towns and cities throughout the country from 2006 until 2008. It introduces a remarkable artist whose work is not very widely known, although Paul (1945-2003) has staunch supporters, such as art curators and writers Greg O'Brien and Ian Wedde. Paul's striking talents are vividly displayed in her drawings. Both charming and accessible, these drawings, in a range of media and often in colour, focus on domestic and landscape subjects and give an impression of intimacy and familiarity. At least 70 full colour drawings will be included in the book supported by essays written by art historians Jill Trevelyan (exhibition curator) and Sarah Treadwell that place the drawings in context and highlight Joanna Paul's distinctive skills. The book has been prepared by designer Anna Brown and Gerald Barnett (Mahara Gallery), who have worked on publications for the National Art Gallery, Te Papa and the National Library.
Dark Night: Walking with McCahon - In 1984, celebrated painter Colin McCahon went missing for 24 hours in Sydney. On the way to a major exhibition opening, McCahon went in one door of the Botanical Garden toilets and slipped out the other side. He was discovered by police the next day in Centennial Park, far across Sydney, with no identification and no memory of who he was or where he had been. By all accounts McCahon was never quite the same from this night until his death three years later. In this work of creative non-fiction, Martin Edmond illuminates the life and work of Colin McCahon and his own relationship with the art and the man, by taking readers on an imagined (and real) journey as he traces a possible McCahon route across Edmond's adopted city. Wandering through pubs and flop houses, streets and churches, Edmond explores key issues for both author and subject - the attractions of the bottle, the role of faith and religion, the illuminating power of the imagination, the hold of family relationships.
Colin McCahon: The Titirangi Years - This book was suggested by the McCahon House Trust which has overseen the restoration and preservation of the house in French Bay where McCahon and his family lived in the 1950s. With the house restored and an associated artist's residency now established, this book gives a comprehensive overview of this crucial period in the work of New Zealand's greatest painter. Six chapters with accompanying black and white images cover McCahon's job at the Auckland City Art Gallery, the Titirangi house and setting, the changes in his art practice and the trip to the US in 1958 which had such an amazing and immediate effect on his subsequent paintings. The text is followed by reproductions of 80 of the most important paintings of the period, which include images of French Bay and of the kauri bush near his house.
New Zealand Art: From Cook to Contemporary - New Zealand Art: from Cook to Contemporary guides the reader on a journey through a generous selection of works from the national collection held at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. With over 200 beautiful reproductions and essays by 38 of New Zealand's top art curators and critics, as well an engaging, accessible introductory essay, this selection includes many of the collection's best-loved and most significant artworks and reflects the progression of New Zealand art - from historical to cutting-edge. In these pages, iconic works from major artists like Goldie, McCahon, Angus, Hotere, Albrecht, and Cotton sit alongside lesser-known treasures, making New Zealand Art: Cook to Contemporary the definitive, accessible sampler of New Zealand art and artists. NB: New Zealand Art contains text and images drawn from Art at Te Papa (2009), which is shortlisted for Best Illustrated Non-Fiction in the 2010 NZ Post Book Awards
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Kura Koiwi: Bone Treasures - Brian Flintoff is one of New Zealand's foremost bone carvers. Though he is pakeha, it is his journey into the world of Maori art that has provided him with his greatest inspiration and direction as a carver. The knowledge, sensitivity and skill that he brings to his work has seen him gain enormous respect within both the Maori and European worlds, and his carvings are treasured as taonga throughout the country. Kura Koiwi is both a personal account of Brian Flintoff's career as a carver, but also an important exploration of Maori art and how it relates to carving. Heavily illustrated with exquisite examples of his, and other people's work, this book explains the mythology and symbolism behind his work, and in doing so provides an inspiring window into the power and beauty of our indigenous culture. Conceived as a sister publication to Taonga Puoro: Singing Treasures, his acclaimed earlier book on Maori musical instruments, Kura Koiwi is an elegant and insightful contribution to the literature about Maori art that will be cherished by any who cares about this culture.
Maori Art: The Photography of Brian Brake - To Maori, the governing principle of mauri brings to all objects the power and prescience of a living spirit. Objects that are hand-crafted from wood, stone, shell, bone or pounamu are imbued with life by their creators. Conveying the mauri of an object through photography requires an exceptional talent, one focused on distilling the essential energy of the original piece through shades of lighting, position and perspective. This is what Brian Brake achieved. The photos in this collection constitute the best of Brake's photographic journey into the world of the Maori. Drawn from work completed for an array of commissions, the images include both those that travelled the world and those rarely seen before. Iconic images of Uenuku and Pukaki take their place alongside representations of humble daily objects. Taken as a whole, they form a celebration of diversity and richness in artistic expression, encompassing carved houses and woven panels, sculpture and tools, ornaments and jewellery, ritual objects and weapons. Recognised as New Zealand's greatest photographer, Brake pursued his passion for the visual image across every continent, but his love for the country of his birth remained unshakeable. Featuring contributions from Witi Ihimaera and Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, Maori Art: The Photography of Brian Brake makes a statement not only of Maori art history but also the career of a man who sought perfection in photographic endeavour.
Look This Way: New Zealand Writers on New Zealand Artists - In this attractive, intelligent and lively book well-known New Zealand writers - poets, novelists, even an economist - write about their favourite local artist. While much art history and criticism is mired in jargon, dullness or obscurity, this book offers fresh, articulate, personal responses that also deepen our perceptions of some major artists. Among the contributions are a graphic essay (Dylan Horrocks on Barry Linton) and two poems (Jenny Bornholdt on Mary Macfarlane and Anne Kennedy on John Reynolds); other essays include Fiona Farrell on Gavin Bishop, C. K. Stead on Colin McCahon, Chris Knox on James Robinson, Miranda Harcourt and Stuart McKenzie on Ronnie van Hout, Brian Easton on Janice Gill, Gregory O'Brien on John Drawbridge and Ian Wedde on Bill Hammond. Each essay is illustrated by full colour images chosen by the writer. A delight to look at, a pleasure to read, and the ideal gift.
Cover Up: The Art of the Book Cover in New Zealand - Some of New Zealand's most eminent artists have also featured in some of our most significant books, and it's an impressive roll call indeed: Len Lye, Dick Frizzell, Gordon Walters, Hotere, Para Matchitt, Colin McCahon, John Drawbridge, E Mervyn Taylor, Don Peebles and more. Hamish Thompson's introductory essay to this comprehensive and handsomely designed book gives an overview of the history of book design in 20th century NZ and details the changing styles of cover art. The body of the book focusses on the work of individual artists, with a two-page spread per artist, plus biographical notes and full colour illustrations. A full index and bibliography included. Sitting at the intersection of art and graphic design, this book slots right into our highly design-aware era and will appeal to the general public as well as to design students, publishers, historians and art lovers.
New Zealand Sculpture: a History - In this updated edition, Professor Michael Dunn has added a new chapter, 'Crisis of Identity: Sculpture since 2000', in which he discusses New Zealand sculpture's international reach, its role at Venice Biennales and the importance of overseas-based New Zealand sculptors such as Francis Upritchard and Ronnie van Hout. Dunn also sees a new popularity for sculpture with the establishment of several outdoor sculpture walks. The book now charts the growth of sculpture from the era of British imports and influence to the more confident art of the 20th and 21st centuries. It includes a general bibliography and reading lists for each major artist. A popular companion to Dunn's New Zealand Painting: A Concise History.
New Zealand Painting: A Concise History - A description of the principal developments in New Zealand painting from colonial times to the present day. The expatriates, the La Trobe scheme, Regionalism, Modernism, Abstraction and Postmodernism are covered, as well as Maori and Polynesian painting and the colonial landscape.
Between Tides: Jewellery by Alan Preston - Alan Preston was one of the founders of the pioneering jewellery collective Fingers creating jewellery that adapted Pacific materials and motifs, capturing and leading the zeitgeist. Magnificently crafted and backed by an intellectually articulated vision, his pieces have always been coveted and collected. In Between The Tides leading art writer Damian Skinner examines Preston's achievement, in a richly rewarding essay that explains precisely why his body of work is more than simple adornment. Beautifully designed, and with an extensive suite of photographs of Preston's work over the years, this book is a must for every admirer of Preston's work and any one who wants to understand the exciting cultural and artistic journey one of our leading artists has been on.
The Invention of New Zealand: Art and National Identity, 1930-1970 - The Invention of New Zealand is an important study of nationalism in twentieth-century New Zealand art. From the 1930s onwards, artists, writers and critics such as Toss Woollaston, Allen Curnow, Colin McCahon, Rita Angus, A R D Fairburn, Doris Lusk and Monte Holcroft deployed art, literature and theory in the construction of a national identity, the search for the essence of New Zealand and the invention of a specifically New Zealand high culture. Francis Pound ponders, decodes, memorialises and celebrates this project from its starting moment when painters and poets became newly self-conscious about New Zealand art. He argues that in the early 1970s the framework was largely dismantled and the discourse abandoned by a new generation of artists and critics, such as Richard Killeen, Ian Scott and Petar Vuletic. Over ten fascinating chapters, Pound covers the Nationalists' major concerns, their problems with antecedents, the formulation of their canon and their various co-option, adoption and rejection of Regionalism, Cubism, Modernism and Primitivism in their quest for invention. The Invention of New Zealand is a well-illustrated and engagingly written narrative by one of our most brilliant and original art historians.
The Passing World, the Passage of Life: John Hovell and the Art of Kowhaiwhai - Kowhaiwhai, according to John Hovell, is about process, a shorthand summary of the passage of life, and a space within the whare whakairo (decorated meeting house) for the Maori artist to express his wry and droll view of human nature. This book looks at John Hovell's life and work, his ongoing interest in kowhaiwhai, and locates him within a larger story of Maori art. From the mid-1960s, Hovell was part of the contemporary Maori art movement, exhibiting his paintings alongside artists such as Paratene Matchitt and Sandy Adsett, and taking part in the activities of organisations such as the Maori Artists and Writers Society. Since the mid-1980s Hovell has been designing and producing kowhaiwhai and murals for marae projects in Auckland, the Coromandel peninsula and the East Coast. He has established a reputation as a kowhaiwhai artist of note, working alongside tohunga whakairo (carving experts) such as Pakiriki Harrison. Richly illustrated with over 100 colour images of Hovell's painting and kowhaiwhai projects, this book demonstrates that Hovell is an important artist who has made a substantial contribution to contemporary Maori visual culture.
Taonga Puoro: Singing Treasures : the Musical Instruments of the Maori - Taonga Puoro - Singing Treasures: The musical instruments of the Maori is the first book to be published that comprehensively covers the world of Maori musical instruments, a fascinating and little-known area of traditional Maori culture. The book has been written by master carver and instrument maker Brian Flintoff, and was inspired by the late Dr Hirini Melbourne, one of the leaders of the modern revival of this art form. Taonga Puoro includes a background to the tunes played on these instruments and the families of natural sounds with which they are associated, while there are sections covering the various types of instruments, such as flutes, gourds, wood and shell trumpets and bullroarers. And to further breathe life into this book, the technical information about each instrument is interwoven with the stories and myths that belong to each intrument. In addition, instructions are given for making and playing these singing treasures, and there is an explanation of the art forms used in Maori carving. This is a beautiful book, heavily illustrated with colour photographs of exquisite contemporary instruments, as well as ancient taonga held in museums around the world. The book also comes with a CD sampler, compiled from a selection of recent releases and featuring tracks of contemporary Maori music and the natural sounds which inspires it.
Frances Hodgkins; Paintings and Drawings - Ongoing public demand has resulted in this new edition of the classic book on the work of acclaimed New Zealand artist Frances Hodgkins. Although her work has a considerable reputation, and though her life and letters have been extensively explored, the paintings themselves had not received detailed and concentrated attention until the publication in 1994 of this work.
A Micronaut in the Wide World: The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy - Graham Percy is one of New Zealand's highest achieving illustrators on a global scale. Though he lived in London from 1964 until his death in 2008, he grew up here and never ceased thinking of himself as an expatriate Kiwi. A Micronaut in the Wide World re-discovers the life and work of this talented, original artist/illustrator/typographer. A tribute to the exquisite beauty of the hand-drawn line, the book also features large, colour reproductions of art works, documentary photos and a biographical, art historical text exploring the imaginative territories opened up by the drawings. It draws on his published illustrations as well as a remarkable body of independent work, some of which has never been seen before. This book underlines Percy's significance as an illustrator and an artist, and sheds light on his milieu in early 1960s Auckland, where he associated with, amongst others, Colin McCahon, Dick Scott, Greer Twiss, Hamish Keith, Wystan Curnow, Don Binney and Mervyn Williams.
Euan Macleod: The Painter in the Painting - Macleod paints from the core of his being, taking us into innermost regions of the human condition. His works explore states of youth and aging, the relationship between human body and environment, and the processes of memory and forgetting which shape both people and places. Writer Gregory O'Brien looks at the origins of these works in the artist's life, and in the many strands of Australasian art and history which have shaped them. He explores the ways Macleod has increasingly come to inhabit these tempestuous yet strangely luminous canvases. Since his arrival in Sydney from Christchurch in 1981, Macleod's development has been parallelled by the progress - within the paintings themselves - of a lone figure traversing land, sea and sky. This figure is at once Everyman and he is the painter himself. Macleod's canvases are both an awakening and a laying to rest of ghosts. Like Virgil in Dante's Divine Comedy, the walking figure leads the viewer towards new ways of seeing and experiencing the world.
The Art of Robyn Kahukiwa - Since the early 1970s Robyn Kahukiwa has been painting and exhibiting art that celebrates socio-cultural issues - some which are controversial - that are central to the Maori experience in Aotearoa New Zealand today but equally relevant to all indigenous peoples of the world; ranging over issues such as colonialism and the dispossession of indigenous people, motherhood and bloodties, social custom, mythology and political activism. A uniquely Polynesian treatment and bright, vivid palettes have made Robyn's art instantly recognisable and respected by some of the worlds leading art historians such as Edward Lucie-Smith. In Robyn's own words her works reflect the mana or prestige of her people; strength, energy, dynamism and continuance.
John Drawbridge - Finally, a book that shows the breadth and depth of John Drawbridge (1930-2005), one of this country's most significant artists. Included in this large format book (264 pages, plus two 5 page and one 3 page spread) are abundant examples illustrating Drawbridge's brilliance in fields as diverse as oil and watercolour painting, large public murals, printmaking and stained glass (including the Beehive mural, the New Zealand House (London)/Archives New Zealand mural, the Expo 70/National Library of New Zealand mural and John's 14 Stations of the Cross stained glass works at the Home of Compassion Chapel, Island Bay).
Moko: Maori Tattooing in the 20th Century - A new edition of this iconic book includes new larger format and photographs rescanned from Marti Friedlander's originals. It is an indepth photographic study of the ancient art of moko.
Taiawhio II: Contemporary Maori Artists in Conversation: v.2 - Taiawhio: Conversations with Contemporary Maori artists, now in its third reprint, has proven invaluable to art lovers, students, teachers and those with a passion for New Zealand art. This new volume profiles a fresh range of contemporary Maori artists. Each profile contains pages of information and quotes from the artists so readers can learn, in the artists' own words, about their influences and inspirations, work methods and practice, while numerous full-colour photographs accompany each chapter, depicting the artists at work and showing the range of their work and the environment in which they create it. Short biographies are given for each artist profiled and a general introduction by Huhana Smith provides context for the interviews and background information about contemporary Maori art. These artists work across a wide range of media and forms of expression including weaving, painting, claywork, sculpture, carving, ta moko, Kaihanga Uku, multimedia, jewellery and dance, making this book an excellent introduction to the dynamic world of contemporary visual culture in Aotearoa New Zealand today.
Taiawhio: Conversations with Contemporary Maori Artists - Fascinating profiles of more than 20 M ori artists working in various media. Superbly illustrated and accessibly written, this is an ideal resource for anyone interested in contemporary art and art history in New Zealand. The artists included in Tai?whio are: Jolene Douglas, Star Gossage, Fred Graham, Lyonel Grant, the Hetet Whanau (Erenora Puketapu-Hetet, Verenora Hetet, Len Hetet and Sam Hauwaho), Dion Hitchens, Emily Karaka, Hemi Macgregor, Nathan Pohio, Moko Productions (Leonie Pihama, Sharon Hawke and Glynis Paraha), Baye Riddell, Natalie Robertson, Anaru Rondon, Tracey Tawhiao, Saffronn Te Ratana, Kura Te Waru Rewiri, and Arnold Wilson.
An Illustrated Guide to Maori Art - The arts of the Maori are among the most alluring and sophisticated of the Pacific peoples. They developed their skills through centuries of endeavour and craft experimentation, expressing religious and artistic ideas in wood, stone, bone, shell and other materials. In particular, their carving and weaving are universally admired; Maori themselves proudly preserve their artistic traditions and honour the great historic art works. In this introduction to the subject, Terence Barrow (1923-2001) explains in simple terms the significance of the design motifs used by the Maori in their works of art, and discusses the material used, their construction and everyday uses. Highly illustrated, this book will answer the questions most commonly asked about Maori art and will give the reader a deeper understanding of the symbolic and spiritual significance of a variety of works and art forms.
Maori Architecture: From Fale to Wharenui and Beyond - A landmark achievement in New Zealand history, Maori Architecture charts, for the first time, the genesis and form of indigenous buildings in Aotearoa New Zealand. It explores the vast array of Maori-designed structures and spaces - how they evolved over time, and how they tell the story of an ever-changing people. Throughout this captivating story, the book looks at facets of early Polynesian settlement, the influence of Christian and western technology, the buildings of religio-political movements such as Ringatu, Parihaka and Ratana, post-war urban migration, and contemporary architecture. Deidre Brown's absorbing, informed and sometimes controversial text is lavishly illustrated with over 130 photos and artworks - all providing a long-overdue and fascinating survey of an important aspect of New Zealand culture and history.
Pasifika Styles: Artists Inside the Museum - Documents an exhibition by 15 New Zealand artists in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, UK from 2006-2008. The artists flung open the stores of the museum and installed their works in cases next to taonga collected on the voyages of Cook and Vancouver. The visiting artists included Ani O'Neill, Maureen Lander, Shigeyuki Kihara, Tracey Tawhiao, Reuben Paterson, Rachel Rakena, Lisa Reihana, Lisa Taouma, and Michel Tuffery who brought vitality to the collections by offering workshops, seminars, public activities and a festival of performing arts. This book describes the making of Pasfika Styles from the perspectives of the artists and the museum professionals and scholars involved, placing it in the midst of current debates about museums, cultural property and art.
Back and Beyond: New Zealand Painting for the Young and Curious - A painting can take you to many places. It can take you around the world, or it can take you around the country, city or neighbourhood you live in. It can also transport you back into the distant past of myths, legends and ancient history - or it can take you way into the future. Since Maori first drew moa and mythical birds on cave walls, artists in Aotearoa New Zealand have provided an imaginative, lively account of the lives locals have been leading, the dreams they've been dreaming and the stories they've been telling. Alongside works painted during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this book features art by contemporary painters and printmakers, all of them seasoned travellers across time and space. Angels, rugby players, whales, kiwi and canoes, moa and mountains, the bush and the beaches all play starring roles in this bird's-eye view of New Zealand painting. "Back and Beyond" is alive with real and imagined encounters, with mysteries and discoveries, and with many of the paintings that have, over the past few hundred years, broadened the horizons of the citizens, young and old, of the shaky isles
Landscape Paintings of New Zealand: A Journey from North to South - The New Zealand landscape photography coffee table book category is a crowded category indeed. Here's a book that takes a novel approach, viewing New Zealand not through a photographer's lens but through the eyes of the country's greatest landscape painters, from Gully to Frizzell, Angus to Palmer. Drawn from public and private collections, these 100 beautiful and significant landscape paintings, both traditional and contemporary, range through the New Zealand landscape,from north to south, covering every region and province. FROM NORTH TO SOUTH features one painting per double page spread, with accompanying text. Each page boldly declares the region in which it is set and includes a map with a location pointer. Text for each plate identifies and contextualizes the artist. Also included is a detailed and engaging introductory essay explaining the selection in the book and tracing the history of landscape painting in New Zealand. Ideal for all lovers of New Zealand art, and, of course, the tourist market.
Hauaga: The Art of John Pule - John Pule is one of the most significant artists living and working in New Zealand today. From the mid-1990s his powerful, enigmatic and personal paintings attracted great interest, and his work came to be widely shown. Famously inspired by hiapo, the innovative barkcloths of nineteenth-century Niue, Pule has been fascinated by the Polynesian past and present, but his work ranges far more widely, responding both to ancestral culture, and to the global terror and violence of our time. This is the first book to deal with John Pule's art. It ranges over his drawing, print-making and writing - he is the author of two novels and several volumes of poetry - as well as his painting. Essays by Gregory O'Brien, Peter Brunt, and Nicholas Thomas provide several routes into Pule's engaging and compelling works, considering his formation as a writer and artist, his meditations on life and loss, and the extraordinary architecture of his visual art. John Pule speaks himself, through an extended interview, and in a series of extracts from his poetry and prose. Published to coincide with the first major survey exhibition of John Pule's work, curated by the City Gallery Wellington, Hauaga provides an indispensable guide to the work of one of the most powerful and original artists of the new Oceania.
Len Lye - This tribute to one of New Zealand's most internationally acclaimed artists is the most comprehensive visual presentation of Lye's art to date. Over 1,000 new photographs were created and hundreds of them selected for this image-rich publication, presenting the full range of Lye's work, from drawings and paintings right through to his photograms and kinetic experimentations. Also published for the first time are photographs of recently reconstructed works including Moon Bead, Zebra and Convolution plus other sculptural works soon to be restored or reconstructed. Additionally there are reproductions of rarely-seen paintings, sketches and artist's notes. Len Lye is aimed at readers of all ages and backgrounds - the refreshing new imagery alongside commissioned content make it a totally engaging book to visit and revisit. The book is co-edited by the Gallery's Len Lye curator Tyler Cann and the writer, critic and poet Prof. Wystan Curnow. Included are essays by the editors, as well as Roger Horrocks, Guy Brett, Evan Webb and Tessa Laird.
Between the Lives: Partners in Art - Between the Lives: Partners in Art is a fascinating book about artists who are also intimate partners. It takes nine well-known New Zealand couples and explores many aspects of their lives but particularly how the partnership affects the art they produce. Written by perceptive and knowledgeable writers but never narrowly academic, it combines the pleasures of gossip with illuminating information about how these artists have conducted their lives. In presenting the work in this unusual context the nine writers cast fresh light on paintings, poems and films and make a significant contribution to our understanding of how art has been produced in this country. Repeated themes are the situation of women and the strains of producing serious art in a small and isolated country. There are also contrasts, which are equally striking, as different couples have negotiated their own ways of accommodating two powerful creative talents. The partners include the Hanlys, McCahons, Siddells, Hodgkins and Richmond, Baxters, Smithymans, Haywards, Woollastons, Campbells -- nine painters, six poets, two filmmakers and a photographer. The accompanying images, selected by the writers, powerfully enhance and extend the insights of the texts.
The Art of Grahame Sydney - Grahame Sydney is regarded as one of New Zealand's major artists. He is best known for his magnificent landscapes of Central Otago, many of which hang in public and private collections throughout New Zealand and the western world. His paintings have been gifted to Nelson Mandela, bought by Elton John and Sam Neill, and the New Zealand iconic, Rossie at Pisa, now hangs in Te Papa Tongarewa. The Art of Grahame Sydney is a comprehensive survey of one of New Zealand's best-loved artists. Chosen from paintings produced over thirty years, this selection shows Sydney's enormously varied body of work: the luminous skies of Central Otago, his magnificent portraits, figure studies, still lifes, drawings, lithographs and etchings. The images are complemented by a brief autobiographical outline of Sydneys early art development, a personal response from poet Brian Turner, essays from Michael Findlay and Belinda Jones and an extended interview with the artist. Included are over 143 reproductions, several photographs and a list of the artworks, exhibition history and biographical notes. The Art of Grahame Sydney won the Montana Book of the Year Award, as well as the Reader's Choice Award when it was first published. The fourth reprint of this popular title is refreshed with a stunning new jacket and a Bronze Premium Bestseller sticker. It makes the perfect gift or presentation book: excellent for weddings, graduations, or as an iconic gift to send overseas. The Art of Grahame Sydney pays tribute to the works of one of New Zealand's best-loved artists.
Click: Portraits of New Zealanders - Reg Graham is well-known for his photographs of people involved in the arts: those who have, in their own way, influenced the cultural life of New Zealand. In CLICK! Graham captures the essence of over ninety of the most intriguing and compelling artistic personalities of the last decade. Reg Graham's splendid black and white portraits give us a fascinating and intimate glimpse into the characters of luminary painters, writers, actors, musicians and dancers. His gallery includes a Renaissance-like photograph of artist Ralph Hotere, the striking image of sculptor Bing Dawe, Margaret Mahy kicking up her heels, Jane Westaway looking like a 60s fashion model...Each portrait is accompanied by a short bio of the subject and Graham's description of the photo shoot: collecting walnuts with writer Janet Frame, catching Hone Tuwhare at the Burns Fellows reunion in 1998, waiting backstage with Rima te Waiata...Wherever possible Graham photographs people in a context that is both familiar and important to them. He avoids delving into the philosophical reasons for doing what he does: preferring the photograph to speak for itself.
Max Gimblett - Artist Max Gimblett occupies a unique position in the history of contemporary New Zealand art. An expatriate who has made New York his home for the past thirty years, Gimblett has remained thoroughly committed to the New Zealand art scene, with regular exhibitions in this country throughout this period. Gimblett's paintings are held in major collections, both private and public, around the world. This book will be the first major publication on Max Gimblett - both the artist and his work. With around 100 reproductions of this work, and essays by writer and curator Wynstan Curnow and New York based writer John Yau, this publication will be invaluable to anyone interested in Gimblett's work and in contemporary art practise. Published in association with the Gow Langsford Gallery.
Marti Friedlander - From Maori moko to Dame Whina Cooper (Te Rarawa) and the 1975 Maori land march, from Rita Angus to Norman Kirk, from Israel to Fiji, Marti Friedlander's photographs have captured the transformation of our lives over the last 50 years. But Friedlander has not simply recorded the places, events, and personalities of recent history. She has brought to her subjects a distinctive eye. Arriving in New Zealand as a Jewish immigrant from England in 1958, Marti Friedlander has always viewed life through the lens of an outsider. Whether photographing artists and writers or protests and street scenes, her photographs have drawn out key human dynamics - conflict, ambivalence, anger, warmth - by excelling in the photographer's art. This landmark book is the first sustained examination of Friedlander's life and work. It is illustrated with almost 200 of her photographs, many published for the first time. In a world awash with throwaway images, Marti Friedlander's photographs provide evidence for the value of really seeing, showing how sustained, inquiring and attentive looking by both photographer and viewers can lead us to new truths.