The University of Auckland Art Collection

MICHAEL DUNN

A selection of works from the University of Auckland's art collection will be on display to the public at the Auckland Society of Arts during the focus week of the centennial celebrations in May. To many in the art world it may come as a surprise to learn that the university has an art collection. Certainly the collection has never previously been publicised or exhibited. And until this year no catalogue was available to give an indication of the scope and extent of the university's holdings.

FRANCES HODGKINS
The Courtyard in Wartime 1944
oil on board, 610 x 762 mm.

The collection is confined in the main to New Zealand works, with the emphasis on paintings and original prints. Some of the paintings have been acquired over the years by gift or bequest. But the bulk of the collection has been purchased in recent times from a small picture purchase fund. The first purchases from this fund were made in 1966. They include two works on paper by Colin McCahon, both of Titirangi subjects.

FRANCES HUNT
Red Barn
oil on board, 407 x 508 mm.

Since that year, additions have been made to the collection as funds would allow. As it now stands the collection does not present a comprehensive survey of New Zealand painting. Not that there was any plan for it to do so. Obvious gaps lie in earlier periods of New Zealand art, and even in the coverage of the nineteen-twenties and 'thirties.

GLENDA RANDERSON
Lilies 1980
lithograph, 311 x 375 mm.

The strengths of the collection are in the period since 1945. In addition to six works by Colin McCahon there are five good paintings by John Weeks. These include several of his North African paintings. Among younger artists represented by more than one example are Richard Killeen and Geoff Thornley. In addition to figurative paintings there is also a number of major abstract paintings by artists such as Don Driver, Milan Mrkusich and Gordon Walters. Walters is represented by one of his 'koru' paintings of 1966, and also by a 1955 oil of high quality.

ROBIN WHITE
Sam Hunt, Bottle Creek 1970
oil on canvas,
1220 x 1685 mm.

Of women artists represented in the collection, Frances Hodgkins stands out in importance. There are two of her paintings in the collection; an excellent watercolour, The Courtyard, Ibiza, and a superb oil, The Courtyard, Wartime, 1944. The watercolour is familiar to visitors to the university library, but the oil has not been shown to the public. Other women artists represented include Robin White, Gabrielle Hope, Doris Lusk and Jacqueline Fahey.

ROBERT ELLIS
City with the Orange River 1966
oil & acrylic, 1552 x 1216 mm.

Many of the works are located around the campus in departments rarely visited by members of the general public. Apart from libraries, paintings are displayed in staff offices, staff-rooms and hallways. Although a majority of the paintings are located near the centre of the campus, some works are hung in the School of Medicine a short distance away. Because the buildings are spread out it is difficult for anyone to obtain a comprehensive idea of the art collection in its entirety. Now with the exhibition of a selection of the major works this problem has been partly overcome.

SYDNEY LOUGH THOMPSON
Wellington Harbour c.1936
oil on board

It is obviously appropriate that a university with a Fine Arts School and an Art History Department should perform a role as patron of the visual arts. While the collection is not yet substantial enough to justify a gallery of its own on campus, such as that provided for the Hocken Collection at Otago, there is already sufficient work of artistic value to require more publicity and documentation than has been the case in the past.

Appropriately the Centennial of Auckland University has provided a stimulus to exhibit part of the collection and show what patronage has already achieved. The recent commissioning of large works for the School of Medicine and the School of Architecture has made the university's role as a vigorous promoter of the visual arts more apparent to visitors to the campus. At the same time they have helped to show the contribution murals and sculpture can make to enlivening the buildings and giving a touch of individuality to them.

FRANCES HODGKINS
Courtyard in Ibiza 1932-1933
watercolour on paper

It is to be hoped that the next hundred years will see an increasing enrichment of the collection and a growth in its status.