Tag: travel

Categories
Reviews, News and Commentary

A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa

Auckland Museum

April 11 – September

A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa

Auckland University Press

RRP $65.00

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Opening at the Auckland Museum this month is the exhibition “A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa” which will also see the launch of the book “A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa” published by Auckland University Press.

The exhibition is groundbreaking in bringing together work from some of the most extensive photographic collections in the country – Auckland Museum, The Alexander Turnbull Library, The Hocken Collection and The National Library.

While early artists had recorded aspects of life in New Zealand through paintings, drawings and engravings it was the photograph which enabled them to record the full range of people, events, landscapes and the built environment.

The full range of such photographs can be seen in the exhibition and the accompanying new book  

The first recorded use of photography in Aotearoa was in 1848, less than a decade after it became commercially available in Europe. Over the second half of the 19th century, professionals and amateurs alike experimented with the new technology and set in motion an image revolution that changed the way our lives were recorded.

These first photographs reveal important individuals as well as ordinary people, imposing landscapes and the  New Zealand bush. There are example of Māori architecture and the fledgling townships. In those towns, there are examples of the most imposing of buildings which speak of government and wealth as well as the rudimentary dwellings of settlers.

Cold Water Baths White Terrace; circa 1880s; Charles Spencer; Auckland Museum Collection

The famous Pink and White terraces were photographed by numerous photographers including John Kinder, George Valentine  and Josiah Martin. In the book/exhibition there is one by Charles Spencer  “Cold Water Baths, White Terraces”. It has been printed as a cyanotype which gives the image a Prussian Blue colour. Another of Spencer’s cyanotypes is of Auckland Harbour which has an eerie appearance.

There are images which help give us an understanding of our past such as Francis Coxhead/ William Meluish’s photograph which shows Gabriels Gully in 1862 with its collection of tents dotted over the barren valley.

Maori King, Tukaroto Matutaera Potatau Te Wherowhero Tawhiao Auckland Museum Collection

There are a couple of images of Auckland by Hartley Webster including what is probably the earliest depiction of the town along with several other views of the town. There are also images of other towns in their infancy including Dunedin, Wellington, Hokitika and Lyttleton.

Two wāhine; circa 1887-1890 Harriet Cobb.  Alexander Turnbull Library

From the very first there were images of Māori such “Two Wahine” by Harriet Cobb and many images were printed commercially. One of the most widely distributed was of Wiremu Tamihana te Waharoa who was known as the “king maker”. At one point there was even court action over the plagiarised of images of him.

Other important figures represented in the exhibition include Sir George Grey,  Tamati Waka Nene and Gustav von Tempsky.

” The Native Earthworks at Rangiriri partially destroyed. ” Photo: M. Higginson, Auckland Museum

References are also found to the Land Wars  with Monatague Higginson’s “The Native earthworks at Rangariri” which was taken after the decisive battle for the Waikato fought in November 1863. There are aspects of cultural exchange to be seen in the dual portrait of Tom Adamson and Wiremu Mutu Mutu where styles of dress and fabrics are  merged.

The exhibition provides information on the development of the photographic processes from the  expensive, silver-coated daguerreotype portraits to the gelatine silver process, which when paired with a fast-shutter, could capture Victorian-era subjects in action for the first time.

Tom Adamson and Wiremu Mutumutu, Wanganui; circa 1867–1874; Batt & Richards; Hocken

With this growth in understanding of the technical aspects of the photograph came experimentation as can be seen in the double exposure image of John Buchanan, the noted botanist in “Spirit photograph of John Buchanan” by McGregor and Company.

David Reeves, Auckland Museum Tumu Whakarae Chief Executive, says,  “The advent of photography in the mid-19th century was a remarkable technological event which had significant impacts on society at the time. This exhibition gives us a chance to reflect on that and more recent changes in the way images are captured and shared and what that means for identity, privacy, and connection with each other.”

The exhibition travels to the Adam Art Gallery (Wellington) in  February 2025  and the Hocken Collections (Dunedin)  September 2025.

To subscribe or follow New Zealand Arts Review site – www.nzartsreview.org.

The “Follow button” at the bottom right will appear and clicking on that button  will allow you to follow that blog and all future posts will arrive on your email.

Or go to https://nzartsreview.org/blog/, Scroll down and click “Subscribe”

Categories
Reviews, News and Commentary

Sculpture on the Gulf: Waiheke’s great art exhibition

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Brett Graham “Wakefield Dreaming”

Sculpture on the Gulf

Waiheke Island

Until April 1

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

A few years ago Waiheke’s Sculpture on the Gulf was included in the New York Times top things to do and the event is regarded by many as one of the great outdoor sculpture exhibitions, not just for the standard of the sculpture but also for the experience of the two kilometre walk with a backdrop of  bush, hills, sea and headlands as well as  panoramic  views of distant Auckland and  the islands of the gulf.

The event attracts tens of thousands of people for the five week show which features over twenty-one works, down from the twenty-seven of the last show two years ago.

There is a bit of a surprise mid-way through sculpture walk seeing  Jorge Wright’s monumental Corten steel work “Head Within” standing only a few metres from where it was two years. It was bought by the owner of the property which abuts the sculpture walk.

Many of the works in this years exhibition have strong architectural and historical connections, reflecting on the changing built environment and the congruent changes to the natural environment.

Turumeke Harrington “Stumped I-XII”

Turumeke Harrington slices of  native trees in “Stumped I-XII” reference the trees which once covered Tamaki Makura while  Chevron Hassett’s “Te Kupenga” welcoming entranceway with its 19th century fretwork would have been built with that cut timber.

Chevron Hassett “Te Kupenga”

There is Ana Iti’s “Whakaruruhau”, a deconstructed work of structural elements which is also similar to the more elaborate work of Lonnie Hutchinson’s “Moemoea – A model for Dreaming”  where her designs in turn relate to Chevron Hassett’s “Te Kupenga”.

Yona Lee’s “Fountain in Transit” uses the steel tubing she often uses to construct interior space with her to create a shower nestled in the bush.

Oliver Stretton-Pow’s marooned lighthouse “Hard Graft” links architecture to plant growth, timber and the tendrils of ocean creatures, referencing the country’s maritime history.

There are references to international architecture and art with  Natalie Guy’s “The Staircase” a homage to Carla Scarpa’s innovative use of materials and designs. Another reference to international art can be seen in Seung Yul Oh’s “Cycloid I, II, III, IV, V, and VI” which mimic Alexander Calder’s lively and colourful shapes . Here the works are like abstract bushes  growing alongside the path.

Seung Yul Oh “Cycloid I, II, III, IV, V, and VI”

There is an architectural component to Nicholas Galanin’s “An Unmarked Grave Deep Enough to Bury Colony and Empire” which uses the outline of Queen Victorias statue as a template for the grave he has dug on the headland.

The most powerful of the architectural works is Brett Graham’s “Wakefield Dreaming” which dominates the headland with his references to the justice system and the overreach of surveillance

Gavin Hipkins’ “Hotel Flag”  evolved from the nautical flag representing the letter H, the first letter of the artists name, it also references the abstract geometric art of Malevich or Stephen Bambury.

Steve Carr’s bronze tires “In Bloom (Waiheke)” can be seen as a sort of self-portrait while Eddie Clemens’ “Cognitive Reorientation” also references his interest in cars as a defining aspect.

Combing aspects of rural farm architecture and religious iconography is Ralph Hotere’s “Taranaki Gate Stations”. The work is based on the Passion of Jesus Christ and originally conceived for Easter 1981

Ralph Hotere “Taranaki Gate Stations”

The work consists of  a cruciform-shaped pen using fourteen standard pipe-and-mesh farm-fence units, with fourteen numbered sheep in.  The gates are marked with Roman numerals (I–XIV) and the sheep painted with Arabic ones (1–14), both in a spectrum of fourteen colours. The various shapes and numbers relate to the stations of the cross and other religious concepts. The work also links back twenty years  to Gregor Kregar’s “Mathew 12/12” shown St  at SOTG in 2003 where he displayed 12 live sheep linked to the biblical text.

Zac Langdon-Pole “Chimera”

Probably the strangest work in the show is Zac Langdon-Pole’s “Chimera”, a dinosaurs skull hanging from a crane which could have been unearthed from the Queen Victoria excavation in a quirky reference to the country’s past.

Categories
Reviews, News and Commentary

Samoan play about the clash between traditional value systems and the modern world

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Semu Filipo as Pili Sā Tauilevā Photo: Anna Benhak

Auckland Arts Festival

O Le Pepelo la Gaoi, ma le Pala’ai

The Liar, the Thief and the Coward

By Ui Natano Keni and Sarita Keo Kossamak So

ASB Waterfront Theatre

Until 23 March

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder, 7 March 2024

A co-production by Auckland Theatre Company, I Ken So Productions and Auckland Festival

Director Ui Natano Keni

Producer Sarita Keo Kossamak So

Assistant Rehearsal Director Maiava Nathaniel Lees

Choreographer Tupua Tigafua

Composer Poulima Salima

Set & Properties Mark McEntyre & Tony De Goldi, GOM Arts Collective

Costume Design Cara Louise Waretini

Lighting Design Jennifer Lal

Sound Design Karnan Saba

Visual Design Delainy Kennedy, Artificial Imagination

I am a palangi and my knowledge and detailed understanding of fa’asāmoa is rudimentary at best.  So it would be presumptuous to pretend that I do – and no doubt very few Samoans would speak to me again.

My own antecedents settled here from Scotland, harking back mainly to small village communities in the north.   I have enjoyed visiting many times and am constantly learning things about their society from long ago.  So it would be presumptuous to pretend that I do – and no doubt very few Samoans would speak to me again!

My own antecedents settled here from Scotland, harking back mainly to small village communities in the north where they worked as crofters.   I have enjoyed visiting many times and am constantly learning things about their society and the customs young and productive people left behind in the fairly feudal society four or five generations ago when they sought betterment through emigration elsewhere.

However some customs and traditions travelled with them and scraps of those links remain today.  The result remains as some kind of low key but deeply-rooted spiritual melange – sort of what was ‘then’ overlaid with what is ‘now’.   Let’s face it, in my own case I have a spine that unfailingly frizzles each time I see and hear that lone piper playing Flower of Scotland high on the roof at Murrayfield before a rugby test.

All of which is a long way from Samoa. But the parallels are not dissimilar even though I approached O Le Pepelo with a certain sense of trepidation and even wondered if I had made a dreadful mistake during the first couple of context-setting scenes which are conducted almost entirely in Samoan.  Good heavens, I thought – Samoan speakers in the audience seem to be getting all the jokes while I didn’t have a clue!

But that soon changed as Samoan merged with English, my trepidatious concerns evaporated and I became totally absorbed as an excellent piece of theatre revealed itself.  You know … something about a simple story told well.  

O Le Pepelo started out that way.  The publicity machine had outlined the basic plot well – an ageing and ill village elder, concerned about who should inherit his position and status on his passing and the decisions this would require.  But that is just a context and this is a play that is so much more.  It is about a clash between the traditional value systems and customs confronting Pili and a more modern world where lifestyle becomes a determinant.  They are in no way simple.

This leads quite easily to discussion and debate, to adaptation and expectation, and eventually to a form of resolution.  Different characters flesh out these themes, and the more they do so, the more complexity and depth is revealed.  In fact, this simple story told well quickly moves to a grander more universal scale without losing its more intimate familial setting.

The bones of O Le Pepola are fleshed out with sparkling characterisations, liberal sprinklings of comedy and a remarkably competent cast, while my more personal echoes of the Scottish diaspora points to its universality.  Keni and So point to this using a fairly classic idiom that echoes the dilemma of a certain Shakespearean king.

In the village of Moa there are three key protagonists. The ill, aged and dying Pili Sā Tauilevā (Semu Filipo), a longstanding chief or Ali’i and his two children.  His eldest son Matagi (Haanz Fa’avae-Jackson) is a traditionalist with high expectations, while his daughter Vailoloto (Ana Corbett) returns from New Zealand embracing the new and the future, appalled because she cannot get a strong wifi signal.  Pili is strongly supported by his wife Fa’asoa (Aruna Po-Ching) .  But it is Masina (Andy Tilo-Faiaoga) who quietly and assuredly reinforces the dignity, wisdom and humility that underpins the both th inherited position and the play itself and becomes a significant part in its resolution.

Billed as a darkly comic exploration of mores and debate, O Le Pepola expands on something we all know a little about, gives it a contemporary currency and its key characters will remain with me for a while yet.

Auckland Theatre Company and Auckland Festival are to be congratulated on bringing this work to life.  It is on point.

Oh, and I loved the chickens.

To subscribe or follow New Zealand Arts Review site – www.nzartsreview.org.

The “Follow button” at the bottom right will appear and clicking on that button  will allow you to follow that blog and all future posts will arrive on your email.

Or go to https://nzartsreview.org/blog/, Scroll down and click “Subscribe”

Categories
Reviews, News and Commentary

The APO’s colourful “Italian Style”

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Franz Schubert View of Florence

In the Italian Style

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

Auckland  Town Hall

February 29

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

In the early nineteenth century it was fashionable to do a Grand Tour with Italy as the prime destination. Artists, writers and composers all sought to travel there to find inspiration.

The APO’s “In The Italian Style” presented works by three composers who were themselves were enthralled by various aspects of Italian music, history and landscape.

The first work on the programme was Schubert’s Overture in C “In the Italian Style” which was not a response to Italy itself but rather to the interest in Italian music at the time , notably the exoticism  of Rossini.  Schubert’s impressionist depiction of Italy conveys images of street life, dances and the leisurely stroll through classical  ruins captures the energy, colours and contrasts of his invented Italy which is a measure of the composer’s ability to convey images and sight he had never seen. The work also shows the young eighteen-year-old trying to move his compositions out of the traditions of Viennese music  of the time.

Mendelssohn was twenty-one when he travelled to Italy where he was captivated  by the art, architecture and landscape. When he was given a commission, he used his impressions of the country as the basis of his Symphony No 4 “The Italian”. While he had been despairing of Italian concert music, he was taken with local Neapolitan folk dance styles like the saltarello. This influence is seen in the final wild, breakneck movement which captures the drama of the dance and Mendelssohn’s vision of Italy.

The first three movements were filled with dramatic contrasts,-  massive sounds  which suggested the grandeur of the Alps as well as softer sounds which evoked contemplation  of art works and architecture.

Conductor Giordana Bellincampi displayed his astute conducting skills throughout the concert, at times creating dynamic waves of sound while at other times having orchestra whisper as in the opening of the second movement which depicts dawn breaking with bursts of sunlight. 

The major work on the programme was Hector Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with Robert Ashworth and his viola taking on the  character of Harold, the heroic figure based loosely on Byron’s Childe Harold, a wanderer who observes scenes of Italian life.

The four movements depicting outdoor scenes from various parts of the country were all derived from the composer’s experiences while travelling in Italy.

While the work is the composer’s personal response to Italy there seem to be reference to Byron’s epic poem throughout the work as in the references to Florence, its landscape and history.

A softer feeling for her fairy halls.

   Girt by her theatre of hills, she reaps

   Her corn, and wine, and oil, and Plenty leaps

   To laughing life, with her redundant horn.

   Along the banks where smiling Arno sweeps,

   Was modern Luxury of Commerce born,

And buried Learning rose, redeemed to a new morn.

Berlioz infuses his music with evocative imagery – the drama of the mountains, the softness of the light and the richness of the country’s art and history.

Robert Ashworth’s muted viola sounds helped paint an initial picture of the world-weary traveller but there were also touches of wonderment, solitude and merriment conveyed by his instrument.

Much of the time Ashworth played as though part of the orchestra, his sounds nestling in the luxurious colours of the orchestra but then there would come passages of sheer exuberance and his playing would rise above the orchestra akin to the emotional outbursts of  Harlod himself in his reactions to scenes and events.

Ashworth himself was attentive to the conductor but also the orchestra and he followed their playing intensely, as though he were Harold witnessing a new spectacle.

There was a clever bit theatricality at the close of the work as Ashworth exited the stage to reappear a few minutes later up by the organ where he was joined by a string trio to play the final moments of the work.

To subscribe or follow New Zealand Arts Review site – www.nzartsreview.org.

The “Follow button” at the bottom right will appear and clicking on that button  will allow you to follow that blog and all future posts will arrive on your email.

Or go to https://nzartsreview.org/blog/, Scroll down and click “Subscribe”

Categories
Reviews, News and Commentary

“Beyond Words” : music to promote unity and peace

John Daly-Peoples

John Psathas

Auckland Arts Festival

Beyond Words

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Auckland Town Hall

March 10

John Daly-Peoples

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra joins with Aotearoa New Zealand’s Muslim communities and acclaimed international artists to present a unique concert experience at the  Auckland Arts Festival in March.

“Beyond Words” is a special collaboration to promote unity and peace through music and to honour the lives lost and changed forever in Ōtautahi Christchurch on 15 March 2019.

Conducted by Fawzi Haimor featuring powerful Moroccan vocalist OUM and Cypriot/Greek oud virtuoso Kyriakos Tapakis, the NZSO performs the New Zealand premieres of works from American Valerie Coleman, Iranian Reza Vali,  Estonian Arvo Pärt and the world premiere of a new work from renowned Aotearoa New Zealand composer John Psathas.

Psathas’ Ahlan wa Sahlan, composed in collaboration with OUM and Tapakis, uses the Arabic welcome to let people know they are in a place where they belong. Finding inspiration in a quote promoting peace, love and forgiveness from terror attack survivor Farid Ahmed’s memoir Husna’s Story, Psathas, OUM and Tapakis have fused together musical styles from Eastern and Western cultures in Ahlan wa Sahlan.

Psathas has established an international profile and receives regular commissions from organisations in New Zealand and overseas including  fanfares and other music at the  opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens Olympics.

This work has been created with guidance from The Central Iqra Trust and communities across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Vali combines Western orchestration with Persian style for the New Zealand premiere of Funèbre. Coleman’s Umoja, Swahili for ‘unity’, was the first work by a living African American woman premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Pärt’s Silouan’s Song is a powerfully spiritual and meditative work.

Vocalist Abdelilah Rharrabti, vocalist and daf musician Esmail Fathi, and saz player Liam Oliver from Ōtautahi Christchurch’s Simurgh Music School, also join the Orchestra to perform traditional music of the Middle East.

“It is not often one has the opportunity to offer a message of solidarity, love, and compassion through one’s artistic work,” says Psathas.

“This is a rare gift from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and I am even more fortunate to be able to share this creative journey with two fellow artists: OUM and one of Greece’s most celebrated oud performers, Kyriakos Tapakis. Together we are creating a musical message of welcoming – Ahlan wa Sahlan – a greeting used to tell someone that they’re where they belong, that they’re a part of this place and they are welcome here. It’s a way of saying ‘You’re with your people’.”

Alongside the concerts are a series of free community engagement events in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland in collaboration with Muslim communities and Unity Week, the official commemoration to be held from 15 March.

In each city there will be a community panel discussion with Beyond Words artists about the project. In Christchurch the events include a workshop by the Simurgh Music School, where the public can experience traditional instruments from the Middle East and Islamic world, a spoken word workshop and Share Kai Share Culture, run by InCommon and Mahia te Aroha, both founded in Christchurch in response to 15 March 2019.

In Auckland Town Hall a special calligraphy exhibition will feature works created by distinguished calligraphy artist Janna Ezat. In the Islamic world, Arabic calligraphy is both an art form and an expression of devotion, identity, and cultural heritage. The exhibition includes a powerful piece dedicated to Janna’s son Hussein Al-Umari, commemorating his bravery, and honouring his legacy in the aftermath of the tragic attack.

Beyond Word also performed in Wellington in association with the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts (March 9) and at Christchurch (March 7).

To subscribe or follow New Zealand Arts Review site – www.nzartsreview.org.

The “Follow button” at the bottom right will appear and clicking on that button  will allow you to follow that blog and all future posts will arrive on your email.

Or go to https://nzartsreview.org/blog/, Scroll down and click “Subscribe”

Categories
Reviews, News and Commentary

Multi-million dollar gift goes on show at the Auckland Art Gallery

John Daly-Peoples

Pablo Picasso, Mère aux enfants à l’orange (Mother and children with an orange), 1951, 
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

The Robertson Gift: Paths through Modernity

Auckland Art Gallery

February 9 – February 2026

Opening at the Auckland Art Gallery on 9 February and running for two years will be the exhibition “The Robertson Gift: Paths through Modernity” comprising fifteen major artworks valued in excess of $250million. The works are a long-promised gift from the collection of New York philanthropists Julian (1932– 2022) and Josie Robertson (1943–2010).

The collection features influential modern European artists, including Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Paul Cezanne, Salvador Dalí, André Derain, Henri Fantin-Latour, Paul Gauguin, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian and Pablo Picasso.

Director of Auckland Art Gallery, Kirsten Lacy says that the Gallery could not realise such a selection of artworks without Julian and Josie’s vision.

“Patronage of this scale is unprecedented, and the collection of modern masterpieces is unique. The Robertson’s gift is unquestionably the most transformative bequest of international art to the country in the past century,” says Lacy.

The couple divided their lives between New York and Aotearoa New Zealand ever since their first visit to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland in 1978–1979. The Robertson’s extraordinary gift acknowledges the lasting connections the couple formed with Aotearoa New Zealand and their passion for modern art. Robertson was an investor and developer in the US and New Zealand. He owned three lodges including  Kauri Cliffs Lodge and several wineries. He was also one of the few non-New Zealanders to receive a knighthood.

Beginning with post-Impressionist works of the late 19th century and ending with a monumental colour-field painting from the 1960s, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey through the major art movements of the modern era, including Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism, and post-war abstraction.

Henri Matisse, Espagnole (buste). (The Spanish Woman), 1922. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Included in the 23 mainly works on paper  by Matisse is “Espagnole (buste) [The Spanish Woman]” painted in  1922. The work was purchased at Sotheby’s in 2007 for between  USD 12,000,000 – 16,000,000 .

The auction house described the work as one of the finest portraits from Matisse’s Nice period of the 1920s, when his skills as a colourist were at their most expressive.   This is one of his more intimate compositions that allows for a close engagement with the young model, who is dressed in the exotic costume of a Spanish women.  Matisse’s best pictures of this period focused on light-filled, and often profusely decorated interiors, with seductive models.

The work is very similar to “Espagnole: Harmonie en bleu (Spanish Woman: Harmony in Blue)” of the same period which is in the collection of the MET in New York.

André Derain, Paysage à l’Estaque (Estaque Landscape), 1906, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Derain’s  “Estaque Landscape” of 1906 was painted when the artist and Henri Matisse, spent the transformative summer of 1905 in Collioure in the south of France. Together, they painted similar views of the coastal village, encouraging one another to adopt brighter colours, bolder brushstrokes, and flatter compositions in their depictions of the surrounding landscape. This style of painting, became known as Fauvism

A recent Christies Auction featured a similar work which sold for USD $5,580,000

Georges Braque, Le Guéridon (Vase Gris et Palette). Pedestal table (Grey vase and palette), 1938, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Georges Braque, said of works such as  “Le Guéridon (Vase Gris et Palette). Pedestal table (Grey vase and palette)”, “No object can be tied down to any one sort of reality. Everything, I realized, is subject to metamorphosis; everything changes according to the circumstances. So when you ask me whether a particular form in one of my paintings depicts a woman’s head, a fish, a vase, a bird, or all four at once, I can’t give you a categorical answer, for this ‘metamorphic’ confusion is fundamental to what I am out to express”

Fernand Léger, Les Pistons (The Pistons), 1918, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Fernand Léger’s, Les Pistons (The Pistons), of 1918, is from a series  which references  contemporary urban life and features many abstract shapes including mechanical, tubular forms, discs, vertical, horizontal and diagonal bands of colour as well as other less clearly definable shapes that coexist with glimpses of modern urban architecture and the anonymous citizens who animate it.

Salvador Dalí, Instrument masochiste (Masochistic Instrument), circa 1934, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Salvador Dalí’s, “Instrument masochiste (Masochistic Instrument)’ shows a nude woman shedding a part of her skin in the form of a violin. The violin is the protagonist and the woman is an antagonist in the painting. Symbolically, it identifies Dali’s strong resistance towards music. The bow hitting the cypress tree adds his imagination of equating music with mortality and despair. It also represents Dali’s impotence obsession and overall neurosis. The cypress trees reminded him of the Pitchot estate, where he would spend long, happy hours in erotic daydreams.

Another of the works from this series sold recently 2019 for GBP 611,250

Paul Gauguin, Cow in Meadow, Rouen, 1884, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Paul Gauguin’s “Cow in meadow Rouen” is part of a group of interrelated paintings, where he focused his attention on rural views such as a stream where cows came to water, selecting a different vantage point for each composition
Three or four canvases from this experimental group were among the nineteen paintings that Gauguin showed at the eighth and final Impressionist Exhibition in 1886.

A similar work from the period sold in 2019  for USD 783,750

Pablo Picasso, Femme à la résille (Woman in a hairnet), 1938, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023

Pablo Picasso painted “Femme à la résille (Woman in a hairnet)” in 1938, at the height of his relationship with the photographer Dora Maar

A similar work from the series but twice the size of the Robertson work sold at Christies in 2015 for USD67million.

The other Pablo Picasso in the collection, his “Mere Aux Enfants A L’Orange” was sold at Sotheby’s November 2002. for USD 3,639,500

 To subscribe or follow New Zealand Arts Review site – www.nzartsreview.org.

The “Follow button” at the bottom right will appearand clicking on that button  will allow you to follow that blog and all future posts will arrive on your email.

Or go to https://nzartsreview.org/blog/, Scroll down and click Subscribe

Categories
Reviews, News and Commentary

Opera Australia’s memorable Brisbane Ring Cycle

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Brunnhilde and Siegfried on her Walkure platform   Image – Wallis Media

The Ring Cycle

Opera Australia

Lyric Theatre, Brisbane

8 – 14  December 2023

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Opera Australia’s  fully digital Ring Cycle opened in Brisbane last month to critical acclaim and huge audience responses. Three separate seasons of the four-work opera were presented at Brisbane’s Lyric Theatre. The production was originally scheduled for 2020, but postponed twice due to the COVID pandemic,

The scale and scope of the story is epic. It follows the struggles of gods, heroes and several mythical creatures over a magic ring which has been forged by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich from gold he stole from the Rhine maidens. It is a ring that grants domination over the entire world. The drama and intrigue continue through three generations of protagonists, until the final cataclysm at the end of the final opera, “Götterdämmerung”.

Director Chen Shi-Zheng drew on the best of the best talent from Australia, New Zealand and around the globe creating a futuristic version of the Norse mythology into which he wove weave Chinese mythology into the production.

Along with some of the sculptural design features the production will be remembered for the digital staging. Designed by, Leigh Sachwitz, it made use of LED screens with AI auto-generated graphics, audiovisual projections and 3D printed set pieces.

Throughout the operas  abstract patterns and colours were used as motifs for various characters as well as being used  to represent the emotions and the internal struggles of the main characters. 

These design elements were dramatically used in the opening scene of “Das Rheingold” featuring the three Rhine Maidens who were perched on a huge chunk of coral / gold.

The Rhine Maidens              Image – Wallis Media

Above and behind them were their three doubles, who swam and cavorted in the projected waters, waves and bubbles of the Rhine as though in a huge aquarium.

Later we entered the  underground Nibelung, home to the dwarves, with its digitally created atmospheric, dark cave with accompanying brooding music.

At the opening of “Die Walkure” the stage was dominated by a large icy white, bonsai tree which featured the sword Nothung embedded by Wotan in its trunk – the sword which Siegmund later  releases. This is one of Wagner’s many nods to other mythologies in this case Excalibur, the mythical sword of King Arthur which had magical powers related to  the rightful sovereignty of Britain.

Siegmund, Nothung and the tree   Image – Wallis Media

At the conclusion of “Die Walkure” Brunnhilde (Lisa Lindstrom) ascended  a platform/ fortress  which was supported on Walkure spears. At this point as she and her father Wotan (Daniel Sumegi)  engage in an emotive duet about their parting a huge metallic Chinese dragon encircles the  platform to protect Brunnhilde, erupting with flames  from its body.

In “Siegfried” when the hero forges the broken sword, Nothung  after the failure of Mime to do so the digital screens pulsed with giant images of the sword and  flashing flames all accompanied by dancers  rushing around stage trailing ribbons.

When Siegfried enters the forest, the labyrinth he encounters is one of dramatic images, puzzling shapes and symbols while his encounter with Fafner  has him slicing into the dragon-like figure as he progresses from one realm to another though a series of grotesque images.

The final scene of Gotterdammerung     Image – Wallis Media

The conclusion of “Götterdämmerung” featured a pyramidal shape representing  a sacrificial pyre for Siegfried as well as symbolising the ancient notions of life, death and rebirth.

In the final as moments as Brunnhilde mounted the pyramid it blazed with colour while various screen images came alive with bursts of colour and ring images. Then the images which had previously been used throughout the operas were displayed in reverse order as the memories of the gods were replayed in their final moments.

Here the Rhine maidens again appeared, swimming down to retrieve the  ring from Brunnhilde before she was consumed by fire.

There were several  stand out performers in this Ring. Lise Lindstrom was a remarkable Brunnhilde, investing the role with emotional clout. Her presence on stage showed a well-honed acting ability in her various encounters with her lover Siegfried, her husband Gunther as well as her father, Wotan. Throughout her voice was sharp and she conveyed the emotional relationships with both the notions of a  demigod as well as those of a passionate human.

As Wotan Daniel Sumegi was a powerful presence on stage conveying a real sense of a god with his strange godly flaws and weird relationship with wife and daughter.

Warwick Fyfe’s Alberich was a careful mixture of the malevolent and the comic, a menacing presence in the cave of the Nibelung contrasting with his bumbling tussle with the Rhine maidens.

Stefan Vinke as Siegfried had some huge passages to sing and he dealt with them brilliantly both with his macho duet with Luke Gabbedy (Gunther) and his passionate duet with Lise Lindstrom (Brunnhilde).

The Queensland Symphony Orchestra under Phillipe Augin was probably the most impressive part of the four operas, playing for  fifteen and a half hours and never once seeming to flag.

Opera Australia’s 2024 season offers some spectacular operas performances including.

Verdi, La Traviata

2 January – 14 March 2024

Glamour, riches and a tragic secret: La Traviata is the story of a courtesan falling in love. Classic opera with stunning costumes, outstanding music and a fresh perspective.

Gluck, Orpheus & Eurydice

12 – 31 January 2024

Journey to the underworld and back with the grieving Orpheus. Awe-inspiring acrobatics meet Gluck’s exquisite music in this genre-busting production.

Mozart, The Magic Flute

1 February – 16 March 2024, Sydney Opera House
9 – 16 November 2024, Geelong Arts Centre

Embark on an enchanting adventure and meet a host of wondrous characters in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. This production in sung in English.

Bernstein, West Side Story

22 March – 21 April 2024
Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour

A musical masterpiece returns to Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour in a thrilling, larger-than-life staging. Dynamic dance numbers along with fireworks above the harbour.

Puccini, Tosca

24 – 30 May 2024, Margaret Court Arena
25 June – 16 August 2024, Sydney Opera House

A thriller with sensational music, opera’s best villain and an unforgettable ending, Tosca will keep you on the edge of your seat.

To subscribe or follow New Zealand Arts Review site – www.nzartsreview.org.

The “Follow button” at the bottom right will appear and clicking on that button  will allow you to follow that blog and all future posts will arrive on your email.

Or go to https://nzartsreview.org/blog/, Scroll down and click “Subscribe”