On the left, a painting of a Māori chief, on the right, the back of the painting showing an unfinished portrait of a young boy

In this excerpt from Back of the Painting, a new book from Te Papa Press that takes a literal look behinds the scenes of famous paintings in New Zealand galleries, Conservator Paintings Linda Waters uncovers a mystery: the unfinished portrait of a young boy.Read more

Accompanying the portrait wall in Tūrangawaewae: Art and New Zealand are digital interactives that allow you to dive deeper into the conservation efforts that prepared the paintings for exhibition, and reveal hidden histories. Conservator Paintings Linda Waters writes about what the back of a painting can tell you.Read more

Conservator Linda Waters, and her colleague Tijana Cvetkovic, have been helping Bronwyn Holloway-Smith of the Mural Search and Recovery Project investigate whether a 1960s mural by Mervyn E Taylor called  ‘First Kumara Planting’ ’ is still intact, hidden under white paint in the old Soil Bureau building in Taita.Read more