{"title":"Making Things Right: New Zealand industrial design pioneer Peter Haythornthwaite, the quest for beauty and putting the user first","authors":"Michael Barrett","doi":"10.24135/backstory.vi9.64","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24135/backstory.vi9.64","url":null,"abstract":"In 2018, interviewing Peter Haythornthwaite for a small contribution to the book, ‘Design Generation’1 (by Michael Smythe; published in support of an Objectspace exhibition of the industrial designer’s work), the designer ventured on to the subject of beauty and its importance to his design process. It seems fitting to start here with that idea, because while beauty’s role in design is little discussed today, Haythornthwaite saw how objects of beauty make everyday use a delight.","PeriodicalId":223199,"journal":{"name":"Back Story Journal of New Zealand Art, Media & Design History","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121693770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Commissioning a Visual Legacy: Louis John Steele and Sir John Logan Campbell","authors":"Jane Davidson-Ladd","doi":"10.24135/backstory.vi9.61","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24135/backstory.vi9.61","url":null,"abstract":"In 2017, Louis John Steele’s portrait of Sir John Logan Campbell at Kilbryde, c.1902, emerged on the auction market after over a century in private hands. It is a fascinating portrait of one Auckland’s earliest and most celebrated Pākehā citizens. The portrait is Steele’s most ambitious portrait and shows him creatively adapting the British aristocratic portrait tradition to the New Zealand context. No commissioning documents have been traced for the portrait, however a close reading of the painting alongside Campbell’s papers reveal it is filled with highly personal symbolism. The provenance of the painting is also uncovered through this research. Examination of the Kilbryde portrait with Steele’s five other portraits of Campbell demonstrates Campbell’s desire to leave a lasting visual legacy.","PeriodicalId":223199,"journal":{"name":"Back Story Journal of New Zealand Art, Media & Design History","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130877409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"What Lies Beneath? The History of Underground Public Conveniences in Dunedin 1910-1929","authors":"Alison Breese","doi":"10.24135/backstory.vi9.63","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24135/backstory.vi9.63","url":null,"abstract":"Turn-of-the-century public conveniences are more than just reminders of a now common public service. The early twentieth century saw enormous transformation in the approach to public conveniences in New Zealand, evident in the changing architectural approaches in their design, construction and visibility. They brought challenges to Dunedin and its local authority, Dunedin City Council. Tasked with their supply, the Council was required to not only invest heavily but also commit to this public provision. This article looks at the establishment and the reasons for the decline of the popularity and use of the underground conveniences.","PeriodicalId":223199,"journal":{"name":"Back Story Journal of New Zealand Art, Media & Design History","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124141648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Seeing Red and Feeling Blue: Social Commentary and Protest in the Work of Michael Reed","authors":"D. Pauli","doi":"10.24135/backstory.vi9.65","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24135/backstory.vi9.65","url":null,"abstract":"Accounts of politically inspired art occupy the margins of New Zealand art history. The career of Michael Reed (born 1950, Christchurch) offers an opportunity to discuss how a New Zealand artist has responded to shifts in 20th and early 21st century global debates regarding social justice, economic exploitation, cultural domination and war. He works across a range of mainly print-based techniques but has also found international recognition for his technically innovative ‘medals of dishonor.’ Through his frequent involvement in collaborative projects, Reed has become part of national and international networks of artists who attempt to speak for the many victims of geo-political power struggles.","PeriodicalId":223199,"journal":{"name":"Back Story Journal of New Zealand Art, Media & Design History","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134583663","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Stories of Victorian Paintings at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki – Navigating Intersections between Past and Present","authors":"A. Samarasinghe","doi":"10.24135/backstory.vi9.66","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24135/backstory.vi9.66","url":null,"abstract":"Victorian painting featured strongly in Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki’s early collection and continued to be acquired well into the twentieth century. These artworks have tendedto be displayed through the lenses of theme and narrative. However, the need to invigorate this format is gaining momentum as curators are exploring ways to navigate intersections between past and present. Te Haerenga/The Passage, currently on display at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, is in keeping with the drive towards enabling historical, international artworks, such as Victorian painting, to be displayed in connection with contemporary New Zealand and Māori art, thus shifting boundaries between traditional perceptions of the art historical canon and contemporary notions of identities and ideas.","PeriodicalId":223199,"journal":{"name":"Back Story Journal of New Zealand Art, Media & Design History","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125276953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Out of the closet and into the museum: The costumes of Mika Haka","authors":"Tharron Bloomfield","doi":"10.24135/backstory.vi8.56","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24135/backstory.vi8.56","url":null,"abstract":"The Auckland Museum recently acquired a significant collection of costume and related material from New Zealand entertainer and community leader Mika Haka. Mika has collected material for over thirty years and it was always his intention that his material would become part of a museum collection. Mika’s motivations to offer material to the Auckland Museum included the positive experiences he had with the Museum and that these objects would speak for takatāpui / LGBT+ communities who are underrepresented in museum collections. The process of selecting material for the museum was a challenge due to the size and variety of the collection. The costumes that represent Mika’s life and are now preserved in the Auckland Museum have wide ranging research and display potential and","PeriodicalId":223199,"journal":{"name":"Back Story Journal of New Zealand Art, Media & Design History","volume":"64 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123319057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Freedom of information. What were they thinking?","authors":"G. Treadwell","doi":"10.24135/backstory.vi8.55","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24135/backstory.vi8.55","url":null,"abstract":"“The right to know is the right to live.”Aruna Roy (1946— ), Indian social activist \u0000Ongoing dissatisfaction among information requesters, including journalists, has discredited the early and partially heroic narratives of the Aotearoa New Zealand freedom-of-information (FOI) regime. The revolutionary and celebrated Official Information Act 1982 (OIA 1982) has remained virtually unchanged since its inception, despite ongoing calls for reform. This article examines why the OIA 1982 was so transformative, calling on the literature and two thematic analyses of historic parliamentary debates as it explores the thinking of the time and historicises the moment lawmakers cemented in statute notions of an open society. All media rely on this law, and the idea of FOI behind it, to be able to flourish, even if some are more acutely aware of that than others. All media practitioners, from journalists to filmmakers, benefit from the informed social discourse that results from FOI. To explore its failings in Aotearoa New Zealand today and, indeed, to start to imagine remedies, this research argues an important first step is to better understand the thinking of the time.","PeriodicalId":223199,"journal":{"name":"Back Story Journal of New Zealand Art, Media & Design History","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126538162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mainmast Speaks: The paintings of Pauline Thompson","authors":"Emma Kelly","doi":"10.24135/backstory.vi8.57","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24135/backstory.vi8.57","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the work of Pauline Thompson (1942-2012), an Auckland based artist who painted throughout her adult life. Although she received local critical acclaim for her work in a ‘Pop Art Idiom’ in the 1960s, as Pauline’s work shifted to a more ‘metaphysical’ style she arguably became less fashionable. This paper considers the reception of her work by art critics, the context in which she was creating her work, and the general discourse of art critics in Aotearoa over the period of her career. Pauline’s own writings and discourse on her practice are interpolated into the discussion. This paper was first presented at the conference of PHANZA (Professional Historians Aotearoa New Zealand Association) in 2019, and following feedback, has been developed into this article. The author knew Pauline Thompson personally, and interweaves informal discussions she had with the painter into this narrative.","PeriodicalId":223199,"journal":{"name":"Back Story Journal of New Zealand Art, Media & Design History","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125866132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Raised Bonnet on the Lost Highway: Whither Les Cleveland?","authors":"Lawrence G McDonald","doi":"10.24135/backstory.vi8.59","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24135/backstory.vi8.59","url":null,"abstract":"Six years have passed since Les Cleveland’s death in 2014 and next year will be the centenary of his birth. Recently, there have been two warm personal accounts of Cleveland the man and the respective writers’ personal relationships with him.1 However, amongst the obituaries published shortly after his passing, there was a tribute by Peter Ireland in which he claimed, “the reception of his work in the present day remains stalled”, and he concluded that although his “adventuring has ended . . . his work’s has just begun.”2 I would concur with the first of these claims and agree to some extent with the second. In what follows, I want to address possible reasons for this stalling by returning to the question of Cleveland’s place in photographic history and reexamining the significance of his framing within public exhibitions and related critical publications. I will argue that his position within local photographic history and intellectual culture in general needs to be clarified; and that the nature of his photography needs to analysed in more than purely local terms.","PeriodicalId":223199,"journal":{"name":"Back Story Journal of New Zealand Art, Media & Design History","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133828517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dear Dad… Brian Brake writes home to his father, Jack Brake","authors":"V. Hearnshaw","doi":"10.24135/backstory.vi8.54","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24135/backstory.vi8.54","url":null,"abstract":"This article draws on 20 postcards from a private collection which have only recently come to light, written by New Zealand-born photographer Brian Brake to his father Jack Brake in the 1950s, and therefore during the years when he was establishing himself as a photo-journalist. Although the collection is not large in number, the messages written on the backs of these postcards provide a wonderful opportunity to locate Brian Brake’s whereabouts during these years and retrace the significant events in his life at this time in his own words. Importantly, the postcards cover the critical period immediately prior to Brake undertaking the filming of his remarkable visual documentary, Monsoon, in India during the northern summer months of 1960. It would be this assignment that would establish his name as a world-class photo-journalist.","PeriodicalId":223199,"journal":{"name":"Back Story Journal of New Zealand Art, Media & Design History","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128698195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}