<>

Picturing History: Goldie to Cottonopens at Auckland Art Gallery this Saturday, 25 April.

This free exhibition presents a glimpse into our past through the eyes of some of our most celebrated artists.

Highlights from the gallery’s extensive collection reveal how artists’ approach to history has changed dramatically over time.

Early artists painted historical scenes in a grand and heroic manner, often more concerned with imagination than fact.

Goldie and Steele’sThe Arrival of the Maoris (above) is New Zealand’s most famous and infamous painting. Based on Géricault’sRaft of the Medusa, the scene of starving voyagers sighting land is riddled with inaccuracies. But it struck a chord with colonists who knew the fears and aspirations of journeying to a new land.

In contrast, recent artists have taken a more personal approach, in their own poetic styles. Shane Cotton says while history may be a starting point for his paintings, it is never an end point.

New Zealand’s history has provided fertile ground for artists. The exhibition includes a focus on the 1886 Mt Tarawera eruption for the first time since the centenary show.

Charles Blomfield’s paintings of the destruction of the famous pink and white terraces are shown alongside Charles Goldie, Gottfried Lindauer and Kennett Watkins’ portrayals of the heroes and myths of the tragedy.

The exhibition also features one of the most significant albums of late 19th century New Zealand photography, the Burton Brothers’Wonderland Album.

The Tarawera eruption was good business for Alfred Burton, who travelled the country showing by limelight his photos of the area before and after the explosion. The album of 180 prints is being shown for the first time since it was acquired by the gallery in 1999.

Land and our relationship with it has long been an obsession of New Zealand artists. Some have searched for an untouched wilderness, while others such as Colin McCahon and Doris Lusk, capture the transformation of the land.

This exhibition shows how the histories we tell reflect our own time, place and cultural perspective.

Auckland Art Gallery’s historic main building is closed for development until 2011. We remain open in the New Gallery on the corner of Wellesley and Lorne Sts.

ends

© Scoop Media