EDITIONS – a history of New Zealand printmaking

MEDIA RELEASE- Exhibition

30 June – 23 August 2009

EDITIONS – a history of New Zealand printmaking

Exhibition to coincide with Rembrandt – the experimental etcher exhibition

Northland printmakers: Faith McManus Mark Graver Mariette van Zuydam

To be opened by Her Excellency Annelies Boogaerdt Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands 5.30pm Monday 29 June 2009

One of Rembrandt’s greatest legacies was advent of the print connoisseur and collector in the 17th century, a legacy which culminated in some of the great print-room collections in museums around the world. He was so justly admired as an etcher that eager collectors in Europe paid serious money for these status objects and his latest works, and those of his followers, were avidly sought. Etchings became almost a cult culture of their own! In New Zealand it was a very different story. To this day there is no national artist print organisation although specific regional associations arose early in the 20th century such as the Quoin Club and the Ex Libris Society and we have certainly produced some exceptional individual printmakers in the past 100 years.

Mariette van Zuydam, Cabbage Tree (unframed), 1999, woodcut. Collection of the Artists

‘New Zealand artists who are etchers are, I am afraid, so far, but few in number, and as a rule, our local exhibitions are quite destitute of any examples of their efforts’ Charles Wilson Gossip about Etching October 1912 The Triad Magazine

Printing in New Zealand began the same year as the nation’s founding document the Treaty of Waitangi in1840 when the first Gaveaux printing press was shipped to our shores from Paris to Pompallier Mission in Russell. Printmaking as a visual artform did not take long to evolve in New Zealand after this and was spurred by the Arts and Crafts Movement in the 1880’s which venerated the woodcut, etching and engraving as an accessible artform for the people. In New Zealand artist printmakers became aligned to a new sense of nationalism and pride after the First World War and the Great Depression.
New Zealanders wanted to untie ‘the apron strings to Empire’ and see an expression of their indigenous landscape flora and fauna in their art. Print makers and designers were ideal in promulgating this new imagery and our own mythologies to the wider public.

Trevor Loyd, Be it ever so Humble, Etching, 100x205mm. Whangarei Art Museum Collection

This exhibition is a selective survey of the changing winds of printmaking from mere emulation of the ‘Rembrandt Tradition’ to a unique pacific voice. Artists in the exhibition include pioneers such as Trevor Lloyd, E. Mervyn Taylor, Adele Younghusband and George Woods.

Scott Pothan

Prints from the Whangarei Art Museum Collection; Carey Collection, Whangarei, private collections and artists Northland printmakers Mark Graver, Faith McManus and Mariette van Zuydam.

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