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New Zealand: Auckland – Colin McCahon Foremost Artist in New Zealand

1919 was the centennial year of artist Colin McCahon’s birth so the Auckland Art Gallery set up an full exhibit of the breadth of his work, McCahon said of his work, “My painting is almost autobiographical. It tells you where I am at any given time” His type of art shifts as he moves to new locations. McCahon was a driving force for art in NZ; He helped run the Auckland CityArt gallery, installed exhibitions, taught art classes and painted too.

New Zealand: Auckland – NZ Artist Colin McCahon Word Paintings

Starting way back in the 1950’s New Zealand artist Colin McCahon used words to create paintings. Many of these word paintings related to his faith and take texts from the bible. To emphasize thoughts, he uses capitalization, density and cursive writing, to suggest to you how you might read the text. This painting is thought to be his last one as it was found upside-down on the floor after he died.

New Zealand: Auckland – Graphic Art by Colin McCahon, New Zealand

Born in 1919, Colin McCahon was a driving force for art in NZ. The Auckland Art Gallery set up an full exhibit of the breadth of his work, McCahon said of his work, “My painting is almost autobiographical. It tells you where I am at any given time” He lived in 3 different geographic areas of New Zealand and you can see his art shift when his eye meets a new location.

New Zealand: Auckland – Guerrilla Girls Collection at Auckland Art Gallery Toi oTamaki

In 1984 an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC was an International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture. Of the 165 important paintings and sculptures mentioned, only 15 were created by women. The furor of this inequity started the Guerilla Girls movement to end gender and racial discrimination in museums everywhere . They created defiant and humorous pamphlets, videos, books and posters shown around the world. This call to action was to erase the double standard.

New Zealand: Auckland – Guerrilla Girls Exhibit at Auckland Art Gallery Toi oTamaki

Founded in New York City in 1985, the Guerilla Girls movement has been challenging feminine bias in art, politics, film, and pop culture since then. The catalyst was a 1984 exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC which was an International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture. Of the 165 important paintings and sculptures mentioned, only 15 were created by women. The furor of this inequity started the Guerilla Girls movement of defiant and humorous pamphlets, videos, books posters, posted around the world. They had had enough of gender and racial discrimination in museums everywhere. This call to action was to erase the double standard. It took the US film industry’s  Academy Awards community until 2018 to get to the same place.

New Zealand: Auckland – To-hunga-ta-moto: Tattoo Artists at Work

Found this painting of tattooing, the most interesting of Gottfried Lindauer’s paintings in the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki’s Living Portrait gallery. Only the most important tattoo artists (Tohunga) are allowed to create and maintain the integrity of the facial tattoo art form. This work is being done on a porch while a young tribal leader lies on a whariki, a special mat allowed for those high rank. His head rests on lap of the Tohunga while his hands are clenched in obvious discomfort. The other gentleman is also a Tohunga and he is chanting rituals for a safe and successful completion of  the pawaha, the creation of the important tatooed facial lines.

New Zealand: Auckland – Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki

So many of New Zealand’s famous names are unknown in North America. In 1919, the centennial year of artist Colin McCahon’s birth, a huge exhibit of many of his creations was set up in the Auckland Art Gallery. This is one of McCahon’s earlier paintings titled “The first Waterfall” which was painted in 1964. McCahon was a driving force for art in NZ; He helped run the Auckland CityArt gallery, installed exhibitions, taught art classes and painted too. 

 

Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Photo of Three of the Group of Seven

Here are three of the famous Canadian Group of Seven painters who started painting the Algoma scenery starting in 1918 with J.E.H. Macdonald. The others in the group are: Lawren Harris, Franklin Carmichael, A.Y. Jackson, Franz Johnson, Arhur Lismer, and Frederick Varley. They hitched a boxcar onto the Agawa Canyon train going up to the mines in Northern Ontario.

Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Inside Group of Seven Boxcar

The Group of Seven were Canadian painters who, in the early 20th century, especially enjoyed painting Canadian scenery. A few at a time, the men would live in this spartan boxcar which would get hitched to a train. They would be let off on a rail siding for a few days to paint scenery to their hearts content. 

Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Group of Seven Boxcar

If you would like to see a reproduction of the Boxcar that the Canadian Group of Seven slept, ate and painted in on the side railings of the 114-mile Agawa Canyon Train, head to Sault Ste. Marie. You can even take a ride on that train to glimpse the scenery they drew. At the end you can get off and enjoy the waterfalls and views and then return the same day.