Back to Black: The Landscape of Unease in Aotearoa

This exhibition is notable for showcasing some of the most rarely seen artworks in New Zealand. The mural-sized oil painting After the Funeral c.1870 is one of four ‘sister works’ in New Zealand from the artist’s famous Marken Funeral Series. Three of this suite of van der Velden’s masterworks are in public collections at Te Papa Tongarewa and the Christchurch Art Gallery. This splendid painting on display at WAM has always been in private hands, and once belonged to van der Velden’s biographer Dr. Rodney Wilson. Today it remains in a private Auckland home rarely seen by the public. A major Colin McCahonpainting from 1957, titled simply A Landscape has also rarely been seen publiclysince it was exhibited at the Auckland Art Gallery in 1960 and comes from a Northland private collection. The painting Still Life by Girolamo Nerli is from a private trust collection, acquired in Melbourne and has never been shown publicly before, as have several other works in this exhibition from private collections in Northland.

Includes Ioane Ioane and Julian Hooper

29 September – 7 December

Whangarei Art Museum, Dent Street, Whangarei.