Blog Archives

Radical carrot, upside down parrot, Gregory O’Brien

Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys Catherine Hammond and Mary Kisler (eds) Auckland University Press, $75.00, ISBN 9781869408930 Finding Frances Hodgkins Mary Kisler Massey University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9780995102972 You reach a certain age and your favourite artists and writers start invading…
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Posted in Art, Biography, Non-fiction, Review

Heroic lives, Bruce Babington

Whatever it Takes: Pacific Films and John O’Shea 1948-2000 John Reid Victoria University Press, $60.00, ISBN 9781776562114 Many years ago, I was invited by the New Zealand Film Archive to try to order the mass of material in its John…
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Posted in Art, History, Non-fiction, Review

Colonial orientalism, Paula Morris

Galleries of Maoriland: Artists, Collectors and the Māori World, 1880–1910  Roger Blackley Auckland University Press, $75.00, ISBN 9781869409357 The cover image of Roger Blackley’s impressive new book is a famous one: a tea break in Charles Goldie’s frame-stacked studio in…
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Posted in Art, History, Non-fiction, Review

A singular genius, Andrew Wood

Colours of a Life: The Life and Times of Douglas MacDiarmid Anna Cahill Mary Egan Publishing, $80.00, ISBN 9780473423834 Over the decades, New Zealand has lost a tragic amount of cultural talent overseas for many reasons: the old bashing machine…
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Posted in Art, Biography, Non-fiction

Unpleasant truths, Douglas Lloyd Jenkins

Theo Schoon: A Biography Damian Skinner Massey University Press, $60.00, ISBN 9780995100176 Hudson and Halls: The Food of Love Joanne Drayton Otago University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9781988531267 There has long been an uneasiness on the part of local biographers when…
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Posted in Art, Biography, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

The light, fantastic toe, Jennifer Shennan

Limbs Dance Company – Dance for All People, 1977–1989  Marianne Schultz Marianne Schultz in conjunction with DANZ, $40.00 ISBN 9780473407698 This book about Limbs, New Zealand’s brightest modern dance troupe, in its heyday in 1980s Auckland, is dedicated “for Sue…
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Posted in Art, Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

Reflecting on the now, Melissa Laing

Towards a History of the Contemporary: Gordon H Brown Lecture 16 Christina Barton Art History, School of Art History, Classics and Religious Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, $15.00, ISBN 9771176588005 For the last 16 years, the art history department of…
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Posted in Art, Review

Plays and playmaking, Mark Houlahan

Performing Dramaturgy Fiona Graham Playmarket, $40.00, ISBN 9780908607648 Floating Islanders: Pasifika Theatre in Aotearoa Lisa Warrington and David O’Donnell ISBN 9781988531076 Dawn Raids Oscar Kightley Playmarket, $18.00, ISBN 97809080607631 “What is a dramaturg?” I overheard that question earlier this year…
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Posted in Art, Literature, Non-fiction, Pacific, Plays, Review

Entangled histories, Megan Dunn

Strangers Arrive: Emigrés and the Arts in New Zealand 1930-1980 Leonard Bell Auckland University Press, $75.00, ISBN 9781869408732 Did you realise that artist Theo Schoon, best known for his modernist photographs of rippling mud pools, also performed Balinese dance? Have…
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Posted in Art, Non-fiction, Review

Championing indigenous art histories, Stella Ramage

Colonial Gothic to Māori Renaissance: Essays in Memory of Jonathan Mane-Wheoki Conal McCarthy and Mark Stocker (eds) Victoria University Press, $80.00, ISBN 9781776561094 The Gedenkschrift – essays by colleagues collected in posthumous commemoration of an esteemed academic – is an…
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Posted in Art, History, Māori, Non-fiction, Review
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