Pre-eminent artist Milan Mrkusich dies aged 93

15 June 2018

MASTERTON, WAIRARAPA

Everyone at Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History was saddened by the news of Milan Mrkusich’s death.

Aratoi had a special relationship with Mrkusich, who was New Zealand’s pre-eminent modernist artist. In 2014, Aratoi opened 'Milan Mrkusich: Chromatic Investigations and Paintings from the 90s', curated by then Director Alice Hutchison. The landmark show featured a spectacular purpose built curved wall on which the Chromatic Investigations sequence was displayed. Sadly, this was to be Mrkusich’s last major exhibition, but earlier this year he generously contributed a major work to the Aratoi Artists Auction fundraiser: Triptych: Homage to Rodchenko, 1966, sold to a lucky buyer for $200,000, a tribute to Mrkusich’s genius with colour and form.

It is always a sad day when a great artist dies. Aratoi salutes Milan Mrkusich’s lifetime of work, his generosity, and the ways in which he enriched the visual arts of our country.

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