1960s: Group Exhibition

…it seems that contemporary painters are responding to an environment which their work has largely defined. Dislocation and disorientation have apparently given way to a more instinctive sense of place. National characteristics seem to have replaced an artificial nationalism in New Zealand painting. In these changed conditions the singular qualities of the New Zealand environment are more likely to manifest themselves in terms of style than ever before.   Hamish Keith, An Introduction to New Zealand Painting, 1969

The 1960s were a golden age of God, Queen and Country for New Zealand. Encouraged by a strong economy, the nation enjoyed one of the world’s highest standards of living. Fashion, politics, music and the visual arts flourished and chased away post-war gloom. As wider audiences responded to increased opportunities to engage with art the appetite for the visual arts grew substantially.

Commercial airline travel, the advent of television, greater accessibility to international publications and travelling exhibitions, enabled New Zealand artists to engage with an art world beyond their local horizons. The break from stylistic traditions of the past that began in the previous decades deepened considerably in the 1960s and it was an exciting and expansive time for the arts. Artists gained confidence and developed styles that, while referencing international art movements, began to wholly embrace and express local concerns. Where there had been a predominately British influence, a stronger awareness of art from all around the globe developed. A desire for “authentic” New Zealand art to replace the Colonial legacies of the decades before was satisfied in what emerged as ‘New’ New Zealand art – art that reflected a growing interest in the culture of its own country.  Artists began to explore and reflect issues pertinent to contemporary New Zealand culture. Local subject matter such as social issues, politics, sub cultures, race relations and feminism were explored in a variety of disciplines and techniques.  

Public museums and galleries were newly developed or modernised and increasingly began to host international touring exhibitions. As dealer galleries were established a new breed of collector began to acquire paintings and sculpture that reflected the time and place in which they were created. The changing cultural climate encouraged greater confidence among artists and the sixties are now remembered as a kind of coming of age for New Zealand art and the period in which New Zealand’s art history began to be written.

This exhibition includes works by a number of artists at varying stages of their careers many of whom are now regarded as the founders of New Zealand contemporary art.