Jacopo Amigoni Bacchus and Ariadne 1730–39. Oil on canvas. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, presented to the Canterbury Society of Arts by the Neave family in memory of their brother Kenelm, 1931; given to the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, 1932
This exhibition is now closed
From the real to the ideal, from the everyday to the impossible.
Drawing on works of art from the Dutch ‘Golden Age’ to the modern period, this largely historical selection crackles with lively visual storytelling. Employing striking realism and thoughtful narratives, these treasured works resonate across time.
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Date:
10 March 2020 – 19 September 2021 -
Curator:
Ken Hall -
Exhibition number:
1102
Collection works in this exhibition
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Commentary
Safe Houses, Comfort Zones
In an age of crisis and pandemic, our basic human need to remain safe has seen living spaces transformed into protection zones and shells to pull back into. So it is perhaps unsurprising to see pictures of domestic interiors charging up differently, re-emerging as sites of refuge, confinement and familiar disarray. Here curator Ken Hall looks at two works from the exhibition Persistent Encounters.
Notes
City Gasworks, Christchurch by Doris Lusk
If you grew up in Christchurch before the city’s gasworks was decommissioned in 1982, you'll almost certainly remember the grimy industrial building that dominated the scene next to the Waltham Street overbridge. It was maybe the most industrialised site in the city, where dirty columns of smoke bellowed out from chimney stacks signalling coal being fired to create gas for residents and businesses. It was a subject that captivated painter Doris Lusk. She had previously painted the Dunedin Gasworks in around 1935, and also turned her hand to painting many other industrialised sites – hydroelectric stations, Christchurch’s Pumphouse, sluice mines at St Bathans, the wharf at Onekaka, and numerous roads and railways slicing their way through the green countryside.
Notes
What’s On at the Gallery in Autumn?
Autumn is on our doorstep and it’s a perfect time to visit Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. Come and experience incredible art, express your creativity through art courses and workshops, attend an artist talk, event or activity and explore your world in a new way through art.