The weight of a painting: McCahon’s Walk (Series C) and Gate III
Adam Art Gallery Collection Officer Sophie Thorn writes about her experiences behind the scenes handling the work of Colin McCahon.Read more
Adam Art Gallery Collection Officer Sophie Thorn writes about her experiences behind the scenes handling the work of Colin McCahon.Read more
Eve Armstrong’s practice draws on the local landscape – just as Colin McCahon’s did. Here, the Wellington artist discusses her residency at the McCahon House and how it inspired a work now in the national collection.Read more
Mātauranga Māori curator Matariki Williams (Tūhoe, Te Atiawa, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Hauiti) dives into a series of paintings by Colin McCahon, commissioned by the Urewera National Park Board in the 1970s.Read more
Colin McCahon is a household name in New Zealand because of his paintings – but did you know he dabbled in jewellery? Decorative art and design curator Justine Olsen writes about a lesser-known part of McCahon’s life.Read more
‘This is the best picture yet painted in this country’ is how Colin McCahon described his Ruby Bay, 1945. Here, author and curator Peter Simpson talks about the growing confidence that McCahon was showing through his correspondence around the time of working on this painting.Read more
The Associate Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Hon Grant Robertson has long been a huge fan of Colin McCahon. Here, he reveals what the artist’s Otago Peninsula in particular means to him.Read more
Washing a charcoal drawing in water?! Paper conservator Jennie Cauchi takes us behind the scenes of her work to treat a 1950s drawing by Colin McCahon.Read more
Modern Art Curator Lizzie Bisley tells us about what’s happening at Te Papa to celebrate this anniversary, and introduces us to one of her favourite McCahon paintings now on display ‘The Angel of the Annunciation’.Read more
When Helen Hitchings launched her gallery in 1949, it was a landmark moment for modernism in New Zealand. Te Papa celebrates this event with the exhibition in Ngā Toi /Arts Te Papa with the Gallery of Helen Hitchings. Former advertising assistant and theatre designer, Hitchings had established her dealer galleryRead more
Earlier this year I travelled to Auckland Art Gallery with one of Te Papa’s masterpieces, Colin McCahon’s Northland Panels, 1958, which is the centrepiece of the exhibition Modern Paints Aoteraroa. This was the first time in 25 years that the iconic painting has travelled to another institution, and the firstRead more
At the end of 2013, Te Papa started working on a series of creative responses to Colin McCahon’s Walk (Series C) (1973) – long an artistic trigger. We approached poet and writer Greg O’Brien who agreed to work with us. Greg contacted some of New Zealand’s most well-known poets. OverRead more
James Brown, Writer On 12 and 13 May, writer and artist Gregory O’Brien gave a series of workshops to school groups about collaborations between artists and writers, and the ongoing conversation between art and text. I sat in on one. I work at Te Papa as part of the WritingRead more
It was one of the best days this year for me: walking along the vast, luminous west coast beach with jeweller Alan Preston. He strolled, collecting shells with an eye on the tide and recalled Colin McCahon’s influence on his work, White Foreshore. McCahon’s years at Muriwai are reflected in hisRead more
After a successful season at the Venice Biennale, in Paris and Christchurch, Michael Parekowhai’s On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer will make its final stop at the national museum, Te Papa. Opening Saturday 25 August, a specially reconfigured installation will be shown in a single gallery space for four weeksRead more
Recently Te Papa’s art educator Helen Lloyd and I have been working together to compile a list of some of the best quotes by well-known New Zealand artists. Quotes about art and art making. We’re interested in quotes which really get to the heart of why artists make work. Helen,Read more
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