Hi there, I’m William McAloon, Curator of Historical New Zealand Art here at Te Papa. Over the last couple of years I’ve been working on a big book on Te Papa’s art collection. Art at Te Papa features over 400 works, from the 15th century to the present day. The cover star is Michael Illingworth’s painting Untitled, 1971.

The book is due out in April. Te Papa’s art curators all contributed entries on individual works, as have a range of other writers, and I’ve written about the history of the national art collection. Art at Te Papa clocks in at well over 400 pages and every work is reproduced in glorious colour.

Claire Murdoch, publisher at Te Papa Press, has just come back from China where she has been overseeing the printing of the book. She bought back a set of pages, hot off the press.  They haven’t been trimmed or stitched or bound or anything – we’re doing two editions, a softcover and a special limited-edition case-bound hardcover – so it’s not a book just yet, but it still looks amazing.

The enormous effort that went in to every aspect of the production  – the photography, the design, checking proofs, matching colours, and much, much more – all looks like it’s paid off handsomely.

I’ll be posting about the book over the coming months, about what’s in it and what it was like bringing it all together.  There’ll be lots more information about it on the Te Papa website and in the media too, so keep an eye out.