Toi Te Papa Art of the Nation is a long-term project intended to heighten public awareness of the range and quality of art held in the Museum. Toi Te Papa Art of the Nation: 1940 - today launches the project. It is the initial part of an exhibition presented in two stages. It focuses mainly on New Zealand art in relation to internal and international developments over the last sixty-five years.
The second part opens in early 2006. This will feature some of the oldest items of visual culture in the collections, European heritage art, art from the period of European-Māori colonial encounter, European modern art, and New Zealand art up to 1939.
Update: The second part is now open. Learn more on the Toi Te Papa Art of the Nation website.
Toi Te Papa Art of the Nation: 1940 - today explores five major themes in the recent evolution of New Zealand visual culture. Works from the 1940s and 50s illustrate the development of a nationalist expression in art, particularly in landscape painting. Works from the 1950s and 60s reflect New Zealand artists’ broadening awareness and distinctive expression of international developments in modern art. At the same time, a new generation of Māori artists began to create works that interwove ideas and designs from traditional sources with the forms and styles of European modernism.
Works from the 1970s and 80s reflect the greater diversity of artists emerging, giving New Zealand’s art a strong pan-Pacific focus. Over these decades, the broadening definition of art saw a greater diversity of artwork created. Finally, work from the two most recent decades show New Zealand artists taking their place confidently on the international stage.
Te Papa’s art collections are unequalled in the breadth and depth with which they encompass Māori, Pacific, and New Zealand art, photography, and the applied and decorative arts. Toi Te Papa Art of the Nation sets out to place before the people of New Zealand the art that belongs to them. It also aims to present to all audiences a mix of ‘icons’, old favourites, and new acquisitions that document the nation’s cultural development and shifting taste. To that extent, Toi Te Papa is also about the people of New Zealand.
Have a look at the school programme we are running in conjunction with Toi Te Papa Art of the Nation.