Publisher's Synopsis
From the sublime to the surreal, the familiar to the forgotten and the 1850s to the present see New Zealand photography like never before in this unique visual history. New Zealand Photography Collected illuminates New Zealands photographic history, from the earliest nineteenth-century portraits of Maori and local scenic views to the latest contemporary art photography. It features more than 350 photographs drawn from the national collection at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, beautifully reproduced and accompanied by richly informative descriptions. From the iconic to the previously unpublished, the selection includes outstanding photographs by James Bragge, Leslie Adkin, Spencer Digby, John Pascoe, Brian Brake, Frank Hofmann, Ans Westra, Eric Lee-Johnson, Marti Friedlander, Laurence Aberhart, Ann Shelton, Glenn Jowitt, Anne Noble, Yvonne Todd and many others. Author and curator Athol McCredie offers a fresh and compelling narrative that foregrounds photographys wide-ranging uses across portraiture, landscape, science, documentary photography and art, and contemplates the way it has been collected both privately and publicly through time. What emerges is not only an illuminating new history of the photographic medium but also a surprising and powerful portrait of Aotearoa New Zealand its landscapes, its people and its changing character as a nation.
