Spring Winds: A Survey of Important Works

Artworks find their way into our gallery under all sorts of circumstances and in many different ways; some arrive on a gentle breeze, others on the tail of a persistent southerly. For whatever reason, sometimes works are with us only briefly, while others stay with us a little longer before moving on to new homes. It’s always an honour and a special kind of privilege to be the caretakers of these works. Many have a long and interesting past, and are among the most significant works in New Zealand art history.

Opening the doors of her first gallery in 1987, Marcia Page was one of the first female art dealers in Aotearoa. The gallery became an authority on historical work, initially focussing on 19th and 20th century painters, many of them women. Since then, and through a number of iterations, the gallery has always maintained a strong focus on the secondary market, with innumerable resales of historical works by artists including Rita Angus, Tony Fomison, Charles Goldie, Pat Hanly, Ralph Hotere, Frances Hodgkins, Colin McCahon, Evelyn Page, Gordon Walters, and Toss Woollaston.

Spring Winds presents a survey of important works that we currently have in our care. No doubt these works will not be with us for long – they may find homes in private collections, or be acquired by public organisations – so before they are once again picked up on the breeze, we wanted to take the opportunity to share them.