scholarly journals A Matter of Taste: the Fate of the Archdeacon Smythe Collection of British Watercolours in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Sippel
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Public Art ◽  
Art Gallery ◽  
Art Collections ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Private Collection ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The Impact

<p><b>Francis Henry Dumville Smythe, a humble clergyman from England, spent a lifetime amassing his private collection of watercolours. During the 1950s, he decided to gift them to two art institutions in New Zealand – Dunedin Public Art Gallery and the National Art Gallery in Wellington. They were welcomed with open arms and celebrated as “the finest collection of water colour pictures in the Southern Hemisphere.” However, they soon fell out of favour: rarely exhibited, the collection remains poorly understood and unexplored to this day. Was their initial praise simply a matter of taste?</b></p> <p>This project looks at the rise and fall of the Smythe collection and aims to reveal the circumstances that led to its current low profile within its respective institutions. The collection itself will be analysed in depth for the first time, and the impact that changing artistic tastes have had on its status will be examined. In New Zealand’s case, these shifting tastes are symptomatic of the redefinition of national and cultural identity during the 1950s-1980s. How did this redefined national and cultural identity contribute to the continued drop in status of the Smythe collection in New Zealand? This dissertation considers the geographical contexts of both Britain and New Zealand and seeks to explore new ways of engaging with New Zealand’s public art collections, through combining the different research fields of watercolours, taste, and identity. While British watercolours are now mostly considered old fashioned, this thesis will find new ways of making them relevant again.</p>

scholarly journals A Matter of Taste: the Fate of the Archdeacon Smythe Collection of British Watercolours in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Sippel
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Public Art ◽  
Art Gallery ◽  
Art Collections ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Private Collection ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The Impact

<p><b>Francis Henry Dumville Smythe, a humble clergyman from England, spent a lifetime amassing his private collection of watercolours. During the 1950s, he decided to gift them to two art institutions in New Zealand – Dunedin Public Art Gallery and the National Art Gallery in Wellington. They were welcomed with open arms and celebrated as “the finest collection of water colour pictures in the Southern Hemisphere.” However, they soon fell out of favour: rarely exhibited, the collection remains poorly understood and unexplored to this day. Was their initial praise simply a matter of taste?</b></p> <p>This project looks at the rise and fall of the Smythe collection and aims to reveal the circumstances that led to its current low profile within its respective institutions. The collection itself will be analysed in depth for the first time, and the impact that changing artistic tastes have had on its status will be examined. In New Zealand’s case, these shifting tastes are symptomatic of the redefinition of national and cultural identity during the 1950s-1980s. How did this redefined national and cultural identity contribute to the continued drop in status of the Smythe collection in New Zealand? This dissertation considers the geographical contexts of both Britain and New Zealand and seeks to explore new ways of engaging with New Zealand’s public art collections, through combining the different research fields of watercolours, taste, and identity. While British watercolours are now mostly considered old fashioned, this thesis will find new ways of making them relevant again.</p>

Great-grandfather, please teach me my language!

Multilingua ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania M. Ka’ai
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Loss ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Minority Communities ◽  
Personal Story ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

AbstractInspired by Joshua Fishman’s lifetime dedication to the revitalisation of minority languages, especially Yiddish, this paper presents my personal story of the loss of the Māori language in my family in New Zealand/Aotearoa and our attempts to reverse this decline over several generations. The paper includes a description of several policy reforms and events in Aotearoa/New Zealand’s history and the impact of colonisation on the Māori language, which, as seen in other colonised peoples around the world, has contributed to the decline of this indigenous language. The paper also presents the mobilisation of Māori families and communities, including my own family, to establish their own strategies and initiatives to arrest further language decline and to reverse language loss in Māori families in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This article, combining story and history, should be read as a historiography of the Māori language, based on the author’s acknowledgement that other indigenous minority communities, globally, and their languages also have experienced the effects of colonisation and language loss. This article, much like a helix model, weaves together a narrative and history of Māori language loss, pain, resilience, and hope and seeks to establish that no language, because it contains the DNA of our cultural identity, should be allowed to die. A table of key landmarks of the history of the Māori language also is included.

scholarly journals Formovanie kultúrnej a etnickej identity Maoriov prostredníctvom príslušnosti ku gangu

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-84
Author(s):  
Lucia Bistárová ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Cultural Engagement ◽  
Ethnic And Cultural Identity ◽  
Cultural Identity Development ◽  
The Impact

Though often called a “heaven on Earth” New Zealand suffers from a serious problem with gangs. Ethnic gangs have dominated the New Zealand gang scene since the 70s when many Maoris left traditional rural areas and migrated in search of work to the cities but ended up in poverty because of lack of skills and poorly-paid jobs. Maori urbanization and the dual pressures of acculturation and discrimination resulted in a breakdown of the traditional Maori social structures and alienated many from their culture. Maoris who have been unable to maintain their ethnic and cultural identity through their genealogical ties and involvement in Maori culture attempt to find it elsewhere. For many of those that have lost contact with their cultural and ethnic links gangs have replaced families and community and provides individuals with a sense of belonging and safety. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the role of gangs in Maori ethnic and cultural identity development. This paper demonstrates the impact of gang environment on individual identity development and provides evidence that cultural engagement initiatives can enhance Maori identities, which in turn could increase psychological and socio-economic wellbeing.

scholarly journals Contemporary Debates: The Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Maori Art Gallery

2017 ◽  
pp. 5-25
Author(s):  
Imogen Van Pierce
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Art ◽  
Art Gallery ◽  
Civic Architecture ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The People ◽  
Artistic Representation ◽  
History Of

What began as a humble sketch on the back of an envelope, the Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery project has evolved into a unique and ambitious quest for artistic representation in Northland. The history of this controversial public art project, yet to be built, has seen a number of debates take place, locally and nationally, around the importance of art in urban and rural societies and the broader socio-economic context surrounding the development of civic architecture in New Zealand. This project has not only challenged the people of Northland to think about the role of art in their community, but it has prompted New Zealanders to question whether there is an appropriate level of investment in the arts in New Zealand.

The rise and fall of the municipal art gallery movement? The public and private dimensions of local civic art

2018 ◽  
pp. 251-289
Author(s):  
James Moore
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Public Art ◽  
Practical Purpose ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Art World ◽  
Art Gallery ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Art Collections ◽  
The Public

By 1914 most Lancashire towns, including many small towns, maintained an art gallery at municipal expense. The origins and practical purpose of these galleries were more diverse than one might imagine. Yet, by 1914, the Lancashire art world faced something of a crisis. The generation of great Lancastrian patrons seemed to be receding. Modern revisionist thinking viewed many of Lancashire’s Victorian public art collections as outdated. The grand galleries of the nineteenth century were expensive to maintain and often poorly attended. This final chapter examines the reasons for this crisis and the way some innovative thinkers attempted to respond.

scholarly journals The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as an example of separatism in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-104
Author(s):  
Dru C. Gladney ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Cultural Engagement ◽  
Ethnic And Cultural Identity ◽  
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region ◽  
Cultural Identity Development ◽  
The Impact

Though often called a “heaven on Earth” New Zealand suffers from a serious problem with gangs. Ethnic gangs have dominated the New Zealand gang scene since the 70s when many Maoris left traditional rural areas and migrated in search of work to the cities but ended up in poverty because of lack of skills and poorly-paid jobs. Maori urbanization and the dual pressures of acculturation and discrimination resulted in a breakdown of the traditional Maori social structures and alienated many from their culture. Maoris who have been unable to maintain their ethnic and cultural identity through their genealogical ties and involvement in Maori culture attempt to find it elsewhere. For many of those that have lost contact with their cultural and ethnic links gangs have replaced families and community and provides individuals with a sense of belonging and safety. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the role of gangs in Maori ethnic and cultural identity development. This paper demonstrates the impact of gang environment on individual identity development and provides evidence that cultural engagement initiatives can enhance Maori identities, which in turn could increase psychological and socio-economic wellbeing.

scholarly journals Preserving a legacy: an analysis of the role and function of the Mackelvie Trust Board, 1885−2010

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
Andrew McKay
Keyword(s):  
Public Library ◽  
Decorative Arts ◽  
Art Gallery ◽  
Art Collections ◽  
Memorial Museum ◽  
The Will ◽  
Set Up ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Role And Function

"Established to manage the art collections of one of Auckland city’s former businessmen, the Mackelvie Trust Board has operated for over 125 years. The Trust was set up to administer James Tannock Mackelvie’s(1824−85) collection of European paintings, books, decorative arts and objets de vertu including bronzes, clocks, coins and natural treasures now held at the Auckland Art Gallery, the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Auckland Public Library. This article will explain how part of the collection came to be at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, how the Trustees administered the will, and how the Trust Board itself evolved to include professional expertise. The impact of this evolution on Mackelvie’s gifts and bequest and the collection’s development is one of the most important findings. After an evaluation of the collection’s management over time, it is concluded that while the Mackelvie Trust Board has always endeavoured to implement Mackelvie’s wishes, financial and physical restrictions led to certain compromises regarding control and display of the collection. Nevertheless, the Trustees have always acted in good faith and protected Mackelvie’s legacy for the enjoyment of future generations of Aucklanders and visitors to the city."

scholarly journals Dear Dad… Brian Brake writes home to his father, Jack Brake

2020 ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Vickie Hearnshaw
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Critical Period ◽  
Northern Summer ◽  
Significant Events ◽  
Private Collection ◽  
World Class ◽  
The 1950S

This article draws on 20 postcards from a private collection which have only recently come to light, written by New Zealand-born photographer Brian Brake to his father Jack Brake in the 1950s, and therefore during the years when he was establishing himself as a photo-journalist. Although the collection is not large in number, the messages written on the backs of these postcards provide a wonderful opportunity to locate Brian Brake’s whereabouts during these years and retrace the significant events in his life at this time in his own words. Importantly, the postcards cover the critical period immediately prior to Brake undertaking the filming of his remarkable visual documentary, Monsoon, in India during the northern summer months of 1960. It would be this assignment that would establish his name as a world-class photo-journalist.

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