Modern[isms]: Identifying a regional New Zealand modernism from the permanent collection

This selection of modernist works comes from Waikato Museum’s permanent collections. From the many [isms] related to modernism, the exhibition looks at examples of works that are directly influenced by European modernism and a glimpse at the influence of indigenous Maaori and Oceanic art. Longstanding Maaori and Polynesian artistic traditions became sources of inspiration and discomfort within our art histories. This turbulence marks the uneasy relationship that exists between Maaori and Oceanic abstraction and the appropriation and research of many of our early New Zealand European abstractionists undertook while trying to find a ‘regional’ modernism.

Education programmes are available for this exhibition.

Image: Untitled (Two Figures), Lyndon Smith, collection of Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato.