New book offers a radical rethink of NZ art history
02 November 2011
The history of the arts in New Zealand is being challenged by the author of a new book published by Canterbury University Press.
The history of the arts in New Zealand is being challenged by the author of a new book published by Canterbury University Press.
CSA: The Radical, the Reactionary and the Canterbury Society of Arts 1880-1996, the work of arts commentator and art historian Dr Warren Feeney, has set out to rehabilitate the reputation of New Zealand’s art societies.
Dr Feeney said that from the 1950s onwards, art societies had been considered conservative and reactionary institutions that failed to nurture the work of younger and supposedly more radical artists.
However, through a study of the history of the Canterbury Society of Arts (CSA) from its foundation in 1880, Dr Feeney has revealed that the institution played a prominent and significant role in supporting and advocating for the arts for more than 100 years.
Artists who benefited from the CSA’s support included Margaret Stoddart, Frances Hodgkins, Bill Sutton, Petrus van der Velden and Colin McCahon.
“It is still assumed in most histories of the arts in New Zealand that the Canterbury Society of Arts, alongside other art societies, hindered the growth of the arts in this country. This book seeks to correct that impression.”
He said readers will discover the ways in which those writers and artists who were advocates of the modern movement constructed the predominant narrative about the development of the arts in New Zealand. This is a story in which the politics of the art world in post-war New Zealand increasingly marginalised the art societies; as they sought to establish more professional arts infrastructures in New Zealand.
“The status of the art society and its role was diminished with the establishment of more professional arts infrastructures and dealer galleries from the 1950s onwards – and this development affected not only the CSA but also art societies in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin, and shared much in common with those in Australia and Canada.
“But to see them as restricting or as holding back the development of the arts reveals a limited understanding of their role and contribution. There is no doubt the CSA and other art societies were marginalised – and there was a need for their demise as key advocates for New Zealand contemporary art – but the marginalisation, in a number of instances, was carried out with a vigour and enthusiasm that was political, rather than entirely necessary.”
Dr Feeney, who completed an MA in art history at the University of Canterbury in 1996, was director of the Centre of Contemporary Art (COCA Gallery), formerly the Canterbury Society of Arts, from 1999 to 2010. He has researched and written about New Zealand art in academic and popular publications since the late 1980s. CSA: The Radical, the Reactionary and the Canterbury Society of Arts 1880-1996 grew out of his PhD thesis, which he completed through the University of Otago in 2009.
CSA: The Radical, the Reactionary and the Canterbury Society of Arts 1880-1996 will be launched this evening (Wednesday 2 November), 5.30pm, at The Undercroft, James Hight Building, University of Canterbury.
- CSA: The Radical, the Reactionary and the Canterbury Society of Arts 1880-1996, by Warren Feeney, published by Canterbury University Press, October 2011, RRP$49.95, hardback, 224pp, ISBN 978-1-877257-94-0
For more information please contact:
Stacey Doornenbal
Publicist
Canterbury University Press
Ph: (03) 364 2984
stacey.doornenbal@canterbury.ac.nz
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