Don't Forget to Feed the Cat: The travel letters and sketches of Stewart Bell Maclennan

Author(s): Mary Bell Thornton

Art | Aotearoa New Zealand Non-Fiction | Travel

Stewart Bell Maclennan was the first Director of New Zealand's National Art Gallery, and the first full-time professional director of a public art gallery in New Zealand. In 1958 he spent six months in Europe and America, visiting galleries and museums to gather ideas. At home in Wellington his wife and four children eagerly awaited his letters, following his progress with coloured flags on a map on the lounge wall. His daughter, Mary Bell Thornton, has now put together a delightful collection of the letters to and from Stewart and his family including some of the sketches he made while travelling. A frank and intimate record of the art world of the 1950s, and packed with humour.

Hello my dears, I’m writing this in the train which is stopped at the moment at Salzberg for passport examination. So if the writing becomes erratic, you’ll know I’m on the way again … “


The 1958 travel letters and sketches of Stewart Bell Maclennan.


Stewart Bell Maclennan was the first Director of New Zealand’s National Art Gallery, and the first full-time professional director of a public art gallery in New Zealand. In 1958 he spent six months in Europe and America, visiting galleries and museums to gather ideas.


At home in Wellington his wife and four children eagerly awaited his letters, following his progress with coloured flags on a map on the lounge wall. His daughter, Mary Bell Thornton, has now put together a delightful collection of the letters to and from Stewart and his family – including some of the sketches he made while travelling. A frank and intimate record of the art world of the 1950s, and packed with humour.


Product Information

General Fields

  • : 9781988595009
  • : Cuba Press Limited, The
  • : Ahoy!
  • : January 2019
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Mary Bell Thornton
  • : Paperback
  • : 709.2
  • : 230