our time and place is distinctively New Zealand. Above all, the meeting of an imported culture based on printing with the oral culture of the tangata whenua forms a special and fascinating part of our island story. [1]
The printed word initially introduced by the Missionaries was not the only printed matter introduced to New Zealand – the European tradition of the pictorial print was employed as well.
The information below has been extracted from M. Anne Kirker’s Thesis: A History of Printmaking in New Zealand, University of Auckland: 1969, Produced for the completion of her Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours degree. Elam F/A Lib [707.5 K59] . The Thesis give a broad history of pictorial print in New Zealand and highlights interesting facts about New Zealand’s pictorial Print history that require further consideration.
… the first Europeans to practice the arts in New Zealand were men on the staff of Captain James Cook during exploratory voyages…” Engravings were topographical and botanical studies dealt in a traditional approach. Used for their “reproductive” function they were essentially the transference of drawings and paintings to copper/steel plate turned later into coloured aquatints pressed in England. The main concern was for the image to be identifying and familiarizing the monumental and typical landscape. Functionally it employs documentation and survey. “… Aesthetically pleasing and scientifically functional responding to the European tastes of the day… the prints function of reproduction set the general pattern of printmaking for the next hundred years…
French Artists sketched New Zealand in early 19th Century. Lithographs were made by the mid 1830’s and Lithography had almost replaced completely engraving as the predominant reproductive medium.
The New Zealand Company and Canterbury Association sent men from England as surveyors and topographical draughtsman. Drawing and paintings produced in New Zealand were later turned into propaganda Lithographs. Acting as Public illustrative texts displaying the beneficial aspects of settlement. These Emigration posters featured picturesque natives, industrious settlers, romatizeied barren hills and plains with toned down colour. “… the interest in ‘obscure corners of the world’, stimulated by the scientific voyages, encourage migrants from abroad to settle in New Zealand.”
The First Lithograph in New Zealand was executed in Wellington 1842 ‘Village of Richmond’ by Peter Pait a surveyor of The New Zealand Company. The original is in the Alex Turnbull Library.
By 1900 different forms of photo mechanics had been invented depriving printmaking of its function as a means of reproducing paintings and drawings. The medium changed to a vehicle of personal expression in New Zealand. Originally manifested itself chiefly in small black and white relief of intaglio.
T.V. Gulliver “Gulli” was a self-taught printmaker and started making etchings and woodcuts in 1911. “As far as it can be ascertained, this man, a civil engineer by profession, was the first New Zealander to make woodcuts.”
In 1916 the “Quoin Club” was founded, composed of members practicing printmaking in Auckland. It had more than forty members including T.V. Gulliver, Trevor Lloyd, J.Fitzgerald, D.J. Payne, A.F Goodwin, A.H Hooper, E. Warner, H. Tornquist, A.J. Brown and P. Bagnall.
Club goals:
“To foster all arts and crafts”
“To found and maintain a Library”
“To provide a common ground in which workers in the art and crafts may meet”
Members mounted no individual shows during the 13 years of the clubs existence. Quoin Club published two portfolios of etchings, lithographs, colour prints and wood cuts and had three group member shows. They Lithographed a Club book for private circulation. The Club Ledger is in the Auckland Public Library.
Auckland Herald: May 4 1922
Essentially a graphic arts club, its main object to popularize the black and white… not (being) commercial in anyway, merely comprising a body of earnest workers, and in their endeavor to further their educational aspirations are issuing a limited number of portfolios of representative works.
The Quoin Club wound up October 1918 due to financial difficulties.
The first one –man show of Black and White drawings, etchings and woodcuts brought together in New Zealand was held by T.V. Gulliver in 1932.
Diversity of subject matter was characteristic of a more modern approach produced in the 1960’s. Predominantly Black and White with the exception of coloured linocuts. The 1950 – 60’s influenced printmakers towards the production of multi-coloured images. Colour images tended to out weigh monochrome. The new awareness of colour in printmaking contributed largely to the recent invention of serigraphy. Local shows of individual printmakers increased in the 1960’s and New Zealanders were sent represent the Nation in exhibitions at the Tokyo Print Biennials (1962 – 1968) and the International Print Exhibition – Yugoslavia (1967 – 1969).
The formation of the Print Council of New Zealand in September 1967 was modeled alongside a similar organization in Australia. Members were predominately collectors. The organization acted as a contact opportunity between graphic artists as well as the possibility of exhibitions together. There were two yearly exhibitions in one of New Zealand’s art galleries.
One of the aims of the Print Council was to give the average man on the street a chance to acquire an original artwork without being beyond his means. Each original exhibited with in the two annual Council shows averaged at $20 each.
The council aimed to facilitate a closer and more stable association between printmaker and collector. Gained 165 members since 1967 (two year period)
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M. Anne Kirker’s Thesis: A History of Printmaking in New Zealand, presents a transition point in New Zealand print history. When researching 'the history of print in New Zealand' there is little written on the subject beyond Newspapers and the introduction of solid language to New Zealand. From practicality to artisan; Kirker presents a refreshing concise journey rarely discussed.
References:
[1] Sourced from:
Waite Noel BOOK & PRINT IN NEW ZEALAND : A GUIDE TO PRINT CULTURE IN AOTEAROA, Introduction
http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-GriBook-_div1-N1057B.html 29/11/09
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