Angels and Aristocrats

It seems a lot of Kiwis still tend to dismiss New Zealand's collections of art as fuddy-duddy and parochial. But the handsome new book Angels & Aristocrats, by the Gallery's very own Mary Kisler (Senior Curator, Mackelvie Collection, International Art) blows that idea out of the water.

Angels & Aristocrats: Historic European paintings in New Zealand Public Collections (to give it its full title) examines New Zealand collections of European art from the 15th to 19th centuries, with more than 240 works featured. It's a treasure trove of pieces from the Auckland Art Gallery, Te Papa, Christchurch Art Gallery, Dunedin Public Art Gallery and the Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui.



Mary spent four years researching and compiling Angels & Aristocrats, which is neatly divided into religious art, landscape art, narrative and genre painting and portraiture. It's a true thing of beauty, being a decent size - weighty, but not intimidating, with heaps of gorgeous glossy pictures.

It's the kind of book one could read right through, or enjoy dipping into over a cup of tea (or a glass of wine). What i love is how her infectious passion for art and her fondness for the paintings she discusses shines through - especially in the book's conclusion, in which she likens them to naughty schoolchildren!

Angels and Aristocrats is getting great reviews. According to NZ Herald reviewer Peter Simpson, "To read this well-produced book is to be educated not only in the treasures held within our collections but in the rich history of art itself."

Graham Beattie has also reviewed it - read his thoughts here.

And you can download a free podcast of Mary discussing the book with Kim Hill here.

You can get a signed copy of Angels & Aristocrats: Historic European paintings in New Zealand Public Collections (Random House/Godwit) at the Gallery shop for $70 (RRP $75). It'd make the perfect Christmas present for any art lovers/bibliophiles/students in your life. (Excuse me while I send my parents a link to this post - hint, hint...)

Mary has produced some great posts for this blog as well - catch up on her archive here. I'm hoping to persuade her to return to the blogosphere soon!

Detective work - Indian Script

Sometimes when I am researching a work I have to admit defeat and ask others for help, and that is what I'm doing now! In 2003 the Gallery acquired three Indian miniatures which are being restored in preparation for an exhibition after the Main Gallery building re-opens in 2011.

The back: While the subject matter of two have been easy to identify, I have been unable to find the exact meaning of the subject matter of this work, which we have tentatively called 'Attack on an elephant'. The work is painted in gouache, and there are two pieces of writing on the margins which may or may not help us identify the theme. There is also an inscription which says Of Hindu Music / Hamell Kanara Raqun 145. The red border indicates that this work was painted in India.

Writing at the top.

The dead white elephant in the foreground has had his trunk cut off, and the ends of his tusks are being presented to a man in the background by two warriors.

The elephant was an important symbol in Indian lore. One possibility is that the narrative relates to a tale in which Lord Buddha was incarnated as a white elephant only to have his tusks removed by a greedy forester. However, that tale doesn't mention the removal of the elephant's trunk, and the figures appear to be Mughal.

If you know anyone who can read this script and who could help us solve this mystery we would love to hear from you.

2 days to go.....installing the exhibition

All the months of selecting work and researching and writing wall texts and labels are essential for an exhibition. However, it is only when works start coming into the gallery spaces and the curator puts the puzzle together that he or she knows if the concept has worked, particularly with such a varied show as The Enchanted Garden. Scott Everson, our designer, has been busy with the preparators, painting walls, (demolishing or moving them on occasion), and working out issues to do with lighting and projection.

After crates and travelling frames have been unloaded the works are put on sponge ‘softies’ randomly against any wall space available, and it is at this point that the curator can sometimes have a moment of panic! Then, gradually, as the works get grouped according to their themes, (and occasionally one gets rejected because it just can’t fit on the allocated wall) it starts to come together. The designer, preparators and curator work together as a team, patiently moving works left or right, experimenting with a particular hang until it feels just right. It’s exhausting, both physically and mentally, but extremely satisfying when it all comes together.

With this show, there are also a range of objects from private collectors, artists’ projects and the decorative arts collection at the Auckland Museum. All of these go in last, except for a delicate embroidered quilt, which has to be suspended high on a wall. Only then can the botanical prints that sit either side be laid out. Finally, there’s the knitted tea cosy, Meissen porcelain, the Maria Loboda vase of floral curses, dvds sculptures etc.

Two days to go, but now we know we’ve got a show!

The Enchanted Garden - opens 13 December 2008


image credit:

Peter Siddell
Tombstone Angel
1975
acrylic on hardboard
Auckland Art Gallery, bequest of Miss L D Gilmour 1990

The Enchanted Garden - Pulling it all together

While in many contemporary exhibitions, it is not usual practice to write extended labels for individual art works, for a large scale summer show that ranges across a wide theme they are an integral part of the experience.

I am an inveterate hoarder of magazine articles, second hand books, extracts off the web, etc so when I started to plan The Enchanted Garden exhibition I already had a lot of material to hand. However, without the assistance of the Gallery’s librarians, who are always happy to source material, it would not have been possible to cover the range of themes that I have. Even after writing 130 extended labels (some loans don’t have them) there is still so much more that could be said.

It is when you write the wall texts that the exhibition really comes together. Sometimes wall texts are really obvious and simple, but on other occasions narrowing down what you need to say, and tying different aspects of a show together, can get very challenging. Then everything has to be edited carefully for any errors or oversights – a daunting task that requires the assistance of willing readers.

While it is the registrar’s job to assist by liaising with artists and dealers when bringing works into the gallery, our designer has also been busy working out how to best display the range of works. Spaces change between exhibitions and for this show we have opened up the atrium, so the centre of the gallery is flooded with light.

Luckily most of the walls have remained in the positions created for the previous show (2008 Walters Prize), but the spaces are starting to look very different as new colours go on the walls. In this way we can tie particular works and themes together.

One of the preparators has constructed a circular table that is also an interactive for children, and a Temple of Vesta has been constructed as one of the four activities that we are offering to booked tours for people with visual impairment, to give added meaning to two prints which show the Temple in its natural surroundings. Much to do…

Click here to read more posts on The Enchanted Garden
Click here to visit The Enchanted Garden on the Auckland Art Gallery website

The Enchanted Garden - Stepping up the pace.

While paper conservators beaver away in the lab treating any prints that might be foxed, and painting conservators clean and treat any works that need attention before being put on display, the curator steps up the pace, finalising any public loans.

For The Enchanted Garden we are borrowing from several dealer galleries, so loan letters have to go out, contracts drawn up and any requirements on the part of the artist or dealer recorded carefully prior to the works being delivered.

We’re also borrowing decorative art objects from Auckland Museum, and our conservators have photographed the works and written condition reports. This happens with every loan work, both into and out of the Gallery, as it is important to have a record of any blemishes, damages etc especially when dealing with fragile porcelain or historic paintings.

As part of this process, the logistics of transporting and displaying individual items are carefully worked through. Two of the paintings in our collection are also getting new frames, so the curator’s job is to select the mouldings and liase with the framer. Meanwhile, research into selected works is taking place, and regular meetings with the designer, education and public programmers all have to fit into the mix.

To read more posts on The Enchanted Garden click here.


Image Credits (top to bottom):

Alberta Pulicino
View of Floriana from La Madonna del Tocha
Post 1749
oil on canvas
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki


Conservators at work
Photo by John McIver

Selecting works for The Enchanted Garden

Perhaps the hardest thing when commencing preparation for an exhibition is selecting works for the show. After building up a possible list off the database, the curator spends a number of days in the Gallery’s art stores. That is when the fun starts, as far as I am concerned, because while any work that has been exhibited is mounted in a cardboard matt with a backing board, there are often loose prints or drawings or watercolours, each housed in folded acid free tissue to protect the work.

These have never been matted, or therefore exhibited, and simply lie quietly in their box hoping their turn will come. Some, of course, may never see the light of day – perhaps they were acquired long in the past – we have lots of prints and drawings of sheep, for example, because early donors were homesick for the Scottish Highlands– or because over time the work has degraded and cannot be treated, so that it become unexhibitable.

For every one of those, however, there will be a hundred or so works which catch the eye, and what should be a short task stretches because it is impossible to resist the temptation to go through each box in its entirety. In this way, curators really get to know their collection.







When I first started working at the gallery in 1998, I used the contents of the boxes to get ideas for possible exhibitions, building lists of themes, such as Politics, Death, Theatre, etc. We didn’t have the great database and website we have now, but I still go back to these lists just to check that there isn’t some work that has slipped off the radar. These are added to my exhibition list, which I then print out with small images and locations.

Then the hard work really starts, because each one has to be examined, the vertically challenged often requiring helpers who can pull out heavy painting racks, and assist with carrying some of the heavier solander boxes. Sculptures are trickier, because they are usually packed in crates, but as we have fewer they tend to be familiar.

The works have to fit the brief, and all be approved by the Gallery Conservators before final approval, and inevitably certain works get eliminated during the process.

This is the second of my series of posts on the planning process for my upcoming exhibition The Enchanted Garden. To read the first post, click here.

image credits from the top:

The old print room

Conservator at work

Joseph Moran Granny Smith gouache
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki gift of Mrs K M Marsh, 1976

Harold Knight White Clematis oil on canvas
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki purchased 1912

Johann Ladenspelder, after Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve after 1504 engraving
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, gift of Wallace Alexander, 1940

The journey from conception to show – curating The Enchanted Garden.

Giusto Utens Medici Villa at Pratolino, 1599
Museo Firenze com'era, Florence

A common question that curators are asked is ‘How do you think up exhibitions?’ The question, inevitably, can’t be answered simply. Sometimes a show is curated to answer a particular need, to explore a particular artist’s history of working, or to honour a patron who has sponsored particular works, or perhaps to give an overview of a particular art historical period. When a curator is ferreting through storage, works are constantly being revealed that suggest a particular theme, or point to a need to explore a particular artist or period. And then there are the times when just for the pure joy of it, you decide you’re going to see just how many works you can put together on a theme because it has triggered a memory of a pleasurable incident. And that is precisely how The Enchanted Garden, which is going to show upstairs in the New Gallery from 13th December 2008 until the 15th March 2009 came about.


From late 1991 to July 1992, I lived in Florence, having received a scholarship from the Italian Government to carry out research for my Master’s Degree, which I was doing through the Italian Department at the University of Auckland.

Stefano Della Bella. The tree house at Pratolino c. 1652
Etching
Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki,
bequest of Dr Walter Auburn, 1982

I often visited public gardens in the weekend, partly to escape the stony environment of the city. Once spring arrived, more gardens opened, one of which was Pratolino. Like so many villas in the countryside around Florence, Pratolino had once belonged to the Medici family. The Museo di Firenze com’era (The Museum of Florence as it was) holds a remarkable set of lunettes painted by the topographical artist, Giusto Utens, who was commissioned to paint all the Medici villas, as they appeared at the end of the 16th century. These show the gardens and villas in their entirety from a bird’s eye view. Pratolino’s original formal gardens have all but disappeared, as a Capability Brown style of garden was introduced when they became all the rage in the eighteenth century. The only sculpture left is Giambologna's Giant of the Appenines Luckily however, they are also recorded in Stefano Della Bella’s set of etchings carried out fifty years or so after Utens, providing a close up, as it were, of the parterres, walks, grottoes and sculptures that used to be there .
Stefano Della Bella
Giambologna's Giant statue of the Appenines c. 1652 Pratolino

etching,

Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki,

bequest of Dr Walter Auburn, 1982

When I came to view these prints in storage at the Gallery in 1999, I immediately saw the possibility of curating a show on the theme of gardens. So why, you ask, has it taken that long? In fact it had been considered for our programme three years ago, but for a number of reasons had to be postponed until now, and during that time has moved from a space in the Main Gallery to the upper floor of the New Gallery. Over the next few weeks I will elaborate on the processes that go into putting together an exhibition, covering such topics at the selection of collection, sourcing loans; layout and design, research and writing, public programmes, and installation.

A Man Of His Time - Peter Tomory 1922 - 2008

I heard this morning that Peter Tomory died yesterday. Peter was the second professional director at Auckland City Art Gallery between 1956 and 1965. He then taught at the University of Auckland and had several academic and gallery posts in America before finishing his teaching career as Emeritus Professor of Art History at La Trobe University in Melbourne. During this time he built up a very fine print collection, which he used for teaching purposes - lucky students to get invited home on a Friday for a glass of wine, and be able to run your fingers over prints! Although you can't do that with an exhibition print, Peter believed firmly that you needed to feel a print in order to really understand how it had been made. Our director, Chris Saines, was one of those lucky people.

When I first started work at the Gallery ten years ago, I learned very quickly just how much I owed to Peter Tomory. Not only was he the first person to introduce systematic research into our international historic collection, but he also made his name internationally when he discovered what were to become our remarkable Henri Fuseli watercolour collection in a private home in Dunedin. At the same time he did much to promote New Zealand artists while he was here. Colin McCahon was working at the Gallery at the time, and they had a great regard for one another, even if sometimes Colin felt that Peter's natural attraction for international historic art meant that that part of the collection received more of his attention.

It was only after I met Peter for the first time in 2004 that I started to become curious about him as a person rather than simply as an important part of the Gallery's past. He asked me down to Dorset, where he had a tiny flat above the Conservative Club. By this stage we were in the process of acquiring his collection, so his flat looked rather empty. There in the street was this beautifully dressed man in a pinstripe blue shirt and tie, back bent from osteoporosis but a beam on his face. Upstairs he had prepared a veritable feast, (indeed the salmon and fresh shrimps had been laid out under the summer sun for some time), and we sat down for what became a four hour conversation about his life, over several glasses of good NZ wine that I had purchased at his local Co-op.

Peter was a bit of a gypsy from early on in life. He was born in Hong Kong, and educated in India and Britain; doing some temporary teaching before the outbreak of the Second World War. Joining the Royal Navy, he served on convoy escort in the Atlantic and an Inshore Squadron in the Mediterranean, which sounded fairly hair-raising. In spite of many trials and tribulations he managed to keep fairly sanguine about the experience, and in a draft of his memoirs that now form part of his archive here at the Gallery, he demonstrates an infallible skill in tracking down gin in even the most remote parts of the Mediterranean.

Taking the opportunity offered to ex-servicemen and women to study at a tertiary level, he then trained as an art historian at the University of Edinburgh, and worked in three regional museums before taking up his position in Auckland. His decision to come here appalled the senior art historians he had met in Europe, until that is, he found the Fuselis. Those contacts were invaluable for the Gallery, however, as he wrote ceaselessly to them all asking advice. I visited Peter again when he was in a home in Bovey Tracey in Dorset, at which time I gave him a copy of the article I had written about him in the Australian magazine, Art and Antiques. I was eager to get more information out of him about his relationship with Colin McCahon, but when he discovered that he and my husband had naval interests in common, I had to kiss goodbye to any juicy additions to my knowledge.

In recent years, Peter has experienced poor health, but when I spoke to his nurse in February she said he was happy in himself, so I am glad that he died without too much suffering. All our sympathies are extended to his sons Nick and David and their families, and I would also like to extend my personal sympathies to Christopher Mendez, who has been dealer and fast friend to Peter for many years, and Elizabeth Cross, another student fortunate to have shared Peter's love of European art.

Peter was nothing if not a character, but how lucky we were to have him, and he will be very sorely missed.