Author(s): Gill Docking; Michael Dunn; Edward Hanfling

Art | Aotearoa New Zealand Non-Fiction

This landmark book on New Zealand artists and their work was first written by Gil Docking, published in 1971, extended to 1990 by art historian Michael Dunn, and again to 2020 by art historian, writer and lecturer Edward Hanfling.
New design, with additional text by Edward Hanfling, including an introduction to the new edition + discussion of new directions in New Zealand painting. This book is an ideal introduction to the development of New Zealand painting from its very beginning, and also the development of critical thinking about the work of New Zealand artists over the last 50 years. (Detailed bibliography and index makes this an ideal book for students.)

The original text by Gill Docking, former director of the Auckland City Art Gallery, covers the period from European discovery up until 1969, nad is presented in itscompletely original form, making for a fascinating look at what was being thought and written about New Zealand paintins fifty years ago. Beginning with Sydney PArkinson's 1769 pen-and-wash study made during Cook's first voyage of discovery, the text moves through four main periods, beginning with that of Exploration, during which British and French painters of varying skill recorded what they saw during brief visits. Michael Dunn's narrative takes over to complete the picture through the 1970s and 1980s,  and then Edward Hanfling looks at New Zealand painting and its evolution over the last thirty years, when many painters saw their medium as a vehicle for addressing issues and identities. Hanfling describes new directions in painting that test the boundaries of the medium, adding artists such as Kushana Bush, Star Gossage and Graham Fletcher. 

250 Years of New Zealand Painting charts the big ideas and movements that have shaped New Zealand art, while also taking a closer look at specific paintings by the key artists of each generation. The text is written with both scholarly depth and accessibility ijn mind, by writers at the forefront of their fields as curators, art historians and critics.