Sybil Andrews The Giant Cable 1931. Linocut. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, presented by Mr Rex Nan Kivell, 1953. © Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2012. Reproduced with permission
Steffano Webb Ex-servicemen undergoing rehabilitation in a workshop after the Great War 1918-1920. Photograph. Collection of Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington
This exhibition is now closed
Exploring the exceptional art of everyday working life.
A selection of mainly historical and modernist works follows a path established by mid-nineteenth century French artist Jean-François Millet, represented here by two exquisite etchings. Other artists are from England, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Japan and New Zealand. From rustic labour to factory work, keeping shop, making repairs, domestic servitude and performance on stage, artists explore the aesthetic and expressive possibilities of everyday working life.
Complementing the selection is an engaging, large-screen digital presentation of little-known images by early Ōtautahi Christchurch photographer Steffano Webb. These remarkable images, from the Alexander Turnbull Library collection, add a dynamic and informative element to the exhibition experience. You can see these images here.
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Date:
2 October 2021 – 2 October 2022 -
Location:
Burdon Family Gallery -
Curator:
Ken Hall -
Exhibition number:
1122
Collection works in this exhibition
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Commentary
A Fireside Whodunnit
Father’s Tea entered the collection as an unexpected and welcome gift in 2020, together with a small portrait sketch and a larger interior scene by the same artist, both signed ‘EC’. Given by the granddaughter of artist Elizabeth Graham Chalmers (1870–1951), the paintings were old and well-travelled, needing the kind of care that galleries can provide. Father’s Tea also presented an intriguing puzzle around authorship, which has only recently been firmly re-established. As our research continued into 2021, local conservator Olivia Pitts undertook cleaning and repairs in preparation for its inclusion in the 2021–22 exhibition Leaving for Work. This included the removal of old varnish, infilling, and repainting areas of loss, and saw its strength vibrantly reinstated. Completing the restoration was the expert repair and re-gilding of the original ‘Watts profile’ frame by framing conservator Anne-Sophie Ninino.
Interview
Raising the Clay
One of the themes explored in the Gallery’s new exhibition Leaving for Work is local industry, particularly in relation to pottery. The show includes an 1896 painting by Charles Kidson of well-known early Sydenham potter Luke Adams; three late nineteenth-century pots by Adams; and projections of a number of exceptional photographs by Steffano Webb. Keen to learn more, exhibition curator Ken Hall met up with local pottery historian Barry Hancox – perhaps best-known as former Smith’s Bookshop proprietor – and leading New Zealand photographer, Oxford-based Mark Adams. Mark’s links to this story include a distant family connection to Luke Adams; photographing many celebrated New Zealand potters of the 1970s and 1980s; and an abiding interest in land and memory.