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Looking for a new country : Christopher Perkins in New Zealand

documentary heritage
  • Description

    "Renowned as a vivid personality, British artist Christopher Perkins helped lay the foundations for modern rat in New Zealand, producing a well-known body of landscape paintings as well as some of the most striking portraits of his era. This is the first publication to fully assess and document his contribution to New Zealand art history.

    It features new writing by art historians who offer fresh appraisals of Perkins and his work, together with a comprehensive analogy of historical documents written by and about the artist, from the 1930s to the 1990s. 'Looking for a new country' - Christopher Perkins in New Zealand is also a record of the 2019 exhibition of the same title at Victoria University of Wellington's Adam Art Gallery Te Pataka Toi, which brought together more than thirty of his paintings and drawings made in response to the five years he spent in New Zealand between 1929 and 1933. Asking why local art writers created a place for Perkins in their national canon, this is both an invaluable resource on the artist and a timely tool to critically reflect on the nature of the discipline of art history in Aotearoa New Zealand."--Back cover.

  • Place
  • Other Id

    ND1108.P47 2020 (Library of Congress Call Number)

    92108 (Cat ID)

    91911 (Presto content ID)

  • Department

Images and documents

Catalogue

  • Object Type
  • Name/Title
    Looking for a new country : Christopher Perkins in New Zealand
  • Primary Maker
  • Contributor/Publisher
    Adam Art Gallery Te Pataka Toi
  • Place
  • Date
    2020
  • Physical Description

    178 pages : colour illustrations ; 21 cm

  • ISBN/ISSN
    9781877309458
    1877309451
  • Language
    English
  • Level of Current Record
    Bib record
  • Member Object

    1 item in this collection. View all items.

  • Related Object Notes
    PD-1966-25: Painting of Mrs Ruth Winiata featured in exhibition and in book (p.82).]
  • Subject Category
  • Provenance Details
    Accompanying letter: "Kia ora, Thank you for lending artwork to the Adam Art Gallery exhibition 'Looking for a New Country: Christopher Perkins in New Zealand'. Please find enclosed a complimentary copy of the book published in conjunction with the show. We hope it will be a welcome addition to your library. Kind regards, Ann Gale [hand-signed], Gallery Administrator, Adam Art Gallery Te Pataka Toi." Letter tipped inside back cover.
  • Content
    Foreword / Christina Barton -- ESSAYS : Christopher Perkins: beyond 'New Zealand Painting' / Julia Waite -- 'A soil manured for the best plants of art': Christopher Perkins and New Zealand art history / Lachlan Taylor -- WORKS IN FOCUS : Portrait of Annette Stiver, 1931 / Lizzie Bisley -- Portraits of George von Zedlitz, 1933 / Roger Blackley -- Portrait of Nancy Webber, 1936 / Oliver Sutherland and Julia Sutherland -- Frozen flames, 1931 / Christina Barton -- Taranaki, 1931 / Christina Barton -- Maori Meeting, 1932-34 / Christina Barton -- Meditation, 1931 / Priscilla Pitts -- EXHIBITION DOCUMENTATION -- List of works -- Chronology / compiled by Lachlan Taylor -- ARCHIVE / selected and annotated by Christina Barton, Priscilla Pitts and Lachlan Taylor, with assistance from Charles Broughton -- By Perkins ('New art teacher for technical college' ; 'this is a new country' ; 'arrival' ; NZ Academy of Fine Arts Exhibition, 1929 ; 'Vital Art' ; 'Foreword' to Recent Works by Christopher Perkins ; NZ Academy of Fine Arts Exhibition, 1931 ; 'The story of Christopher Perkins' ; 'The temptations of England' ; 'Posthumous glory') -- About Perkins ('Academy welcomes new art instructor' ; 'Some new art' ; 'An earthquake joke' ; P.W. Robertson ; 'Peter Penn' ; 'S.O.S.' ; 'Art notes' ; F.H. McDowall ; A.R.D. Fairburn ; Roland Hipkins ; O.E.A. Hughan ; E.H. McCormick ; P.A. Tomory ; Gordon H. Brown and Hamish Keith ; Michael Dunn ; Charles C. Eldredge ; Tony Green) -- bibliography -- contributors.
  • Public Access Text

    [Keywords: Perkins, Christopher, 1891-1968--Exhibition catalogues; Adam Art Gallery Te Pataka Toi--Exhibition catalogues; Artists--Biography--New Zealand; Art museums--Exhibition catalogues--New Zealand]

    Includes bibliographical references "Published by Adam Art Gallery Te Pataka Toi at Victoria University of Wellington, to document and extend the exhibition: 'Looking for a new country' - Christopher Perkins in New Zealand, 6 November 2019-22 March 2020."--colophon. Tamaki Paenga Hira painting "Mrs Ruth Winiata" featured on page 82.

  • Associated Notes
  • Subject Notes
    Christopher Perkins (1891-1968) came to New Zealand in the 1920s under the La Trobe scheme, and his paintings are held in all major public art galleries in New Zealand today.
    Adam Art Gallery Te Pataka Toi is the purpose-built gallery of Victoria University of Wellington.
  • Collection Type
    Reading Room
  • Last Update
    19 Dec 2023

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