Robin White, Relatives at Maketu church (detail), 1974, silkscreen print on paper. Tauranga Art Gallery
Photo Credit
Dame Robin White (Ngāti Awa/ Pākehā, born 1946 in Te Puke) is recognised as one of New Zealand’s key painters and printmakers. In the 1970s she became known for her hard-edged realist paintings and screen-prints, and since then her practice has continually — and at times dramatically — evolved. Throughout her 50-year career she has resided in multiple cities across Aotearoa and spent sustained periods in the Pacific Islands, including Tonga and Kiribati.
In 2004, as plans to launch the new Tauranga Art Gallery were gaining momentum, White gifted her etching Goodbye Bay of Plenty to the Collection. This gift marked the beginning of a key focus on White’s work in the Collection, which was bolstered early by gifts by donors Sheila Morgan and The Venetta Miles Trust, who enabled the Gallery to acquire other key works by White.
This collection-focused exhibition provides an overview of our holdings of Robin White’s work, from her early regionalist style screenprints to works influenced by her Pacific travels. It is also timed to coincide with the major touring retrospective Robin White: Something is Happening Here, opening in May at Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand and co-developed with Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, for which the Gallery has lent four additional works.
Dame Robin White (Ngāti Awa/ Pākehā, born 1946 in Te Puke) is recognised as one of New Zealand’s key painters and printmakers. In the 1970s she became known for her hard-edged realist paintings and screen-prints, and since then her practice has continually — and at times dramatically — evolved. Throughout her 50-year career she has resided in multiple cities across Aotearoa and spent sustained periods in the Pacific Islands, including Tonga and Kiribati.
In 2004, as plans to launch the new Tauranga Art Gallery were gaining momentum, White gifted her etching Goodbye Bay of Plenty to the Collection. This gift marked the beginning of a key focus on White’s work in the Collection, which was bolstered early by gifts by donors Sheila Morgan and The Venetta Miles Trust, who enabled the Gallery to acquire other key works by White.
This collection-focused exhibition provides an overview of our holdings of Robin White’s work, from her early regionalist style screenprints to works influenced by her Pacific travels. It is also timed to coincide with the major touring retrospective Robin White: Something is Happening Here, opening in May at Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand and co-developed with Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, for which the Gallery has lent four additional works.
