Munch exhibition on tour

Press, 7 October 1987, Page 22

Munch exhibition on tour

An exhibition of the artist who pioneered the expressionist movement in twentieth century European art will begin a New Zealand tour in Hamilton this month. Edvard Munch — said to have been envied by Picasso — was probably Norway’s greatest artist An exhibition of his etchings, lithographs and woodcuts will open at the new Waikato museum of art and history tomorrow. The exhibition will travel on to Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Auckland on a nlne-month New Zealand tour.

NZI Corporation will sponsor the $6 million exhibition’s national tour. The Auckland City Art Gallery has organised the New Zealand tour which has been indemnified by the New Zealand Government The exhibition, entitled "Death and Desire,” will feature Munch’s most well-known lithograph “The Scream.” "His images of the human condition with their emphasis on emotional and psychological themes of love and death,

death and despair, anxiety and loneliness make him one of the great emotional expressionists of the twentieth century,” said Mr Bruce Robinson, the director of the Waikato Museum. Mr Robinson said Munch’s work as a printmaker ranked with Durer, Rembrandt and Goya. On Munch’s death in 1944, at the age of 81, the bulk of his prints, along with the paintings, drawings, printing plates, lithography stones and woodblocks still in his possession were bequeathed to the city of Oslo, in Nor-

way. All of the works which will tour New Zealand are on loan from what became Oslo’s Munch Museum. The director of the Munch Museum, Mr Alf Boe, will be present at the opening of the exhibition in Hamilton. Mr Boe will present a lecture entitled "Edvard Munch — Art and Personality.” The Christchurch showing of the exhibition will be at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery from January 22 to February 28.