Prints for Japan

Press, 24 October 1984, Page 19

Prints for Japan

The work of 13 New Zealand printmakers will soon tour Japan. The prints are on display in the National Art Gallery in Wellington for five weeks before being sent to Japan. Each of the artists has two works in the exhibition, which was organised by the gallery and the New Zea-land-Japan Exchange Programme and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among the exhibitors are Patrick Hanly, Gordon Walters, Barry Cleavin, Richard Killeen, Jeffrey Harris, John Drawbridge and Robin Morris.

The aim of the travelling exhibition was to recognise the place of print making as an artistic expression rather than an adjunct to artists’ works. A catalogue and poster of the prints has been published by the gallery. Also on exhibit at the gallery is the collection of Colin McCahon paintings organised by the gallery for the Sydney Biennale. The 22 paintings cover the period between 1947 and 1982 and were drawn from private and public collections throughout New Zealand

Colin McCahon was the first artist to have a solo show at the Sydney Biennale. The paintings vary from small charcoal drawings to a 8.6 m canvas painted in 1969. The exhibition received critical acclaim at the Biennale. The paintings will be shown only at the Wellington gallery, until December 9. The exhibition is called “I Will Need Words: Colin McCahon’s Word and Number Paintings.”