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Ngā Toi | Arts Te Papa

Ngā Toi | Arts Te Papa

Changes are afoot in Ngā Toi | Arts Te Papa and there is much to see. The first of the new season of art exhibitions have already opened. The works of pioneering Māori artist Ralph Hotere, American minimalist artist Ad Reinhardt, and Māori minimalist sculptor Matt Pine are brought together in a surprising conversation in Māori minimalism and international influenceAdorned explores relationships between historical representations of Māori and Pacific peoples and taonga, while New Visions, New Zealand features a little-known mural by Lois White.

Framing the View features a selection of historical art picturing the Pink and White Terraces, the ‘eighth wonder of the world’. In the absence of collections of Old Master paintings, sites such as this provided a training ground for artists and photographers. To perfect their art, these pioneers braved the elements, producing pictures that ranged from untouched worlds to romantic wonderlands.

This season, Framing the View features a selection of paintings and photographs depicting the Pink and White Terraces. You can read more about these works, and others in Te Papa’s collection that showcase this magical wonderland in Rebecca Rice’s article Artists in Wonderland, published in Arts Te Papa / Off the Wall Issue 12, August 2016.

Soon these exhibitions will be joined by European Splendour 1500 – 1800, an exhibition that delights in unwrapping what was once the height of affluence and Alexis Hunter: The Model’s Revenge which open on the 9 September. Finally, the last of the new exhibitions will open on Friday 16 September. These include The Anzac Print portfolio, Filmic Imaginaries: Jacqueline Fraser and Tracey Moffatt and the New Zealand premiere of Simon Denny’s acclaimed Venice Biennale exhibition Secret Power which explores surveillance, espionage and New Zealand’s role in the Five Eyes international intelligence.

 

Feature image:Detail from White Terraces by Charles Blomfield, 1882, oil on canvas. Gift of Sir Guy Berry, South Africa, 1960. Te Papa 1960-0003-2.