MARTI FRIEDLANDER: PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS by Leonard Bell, features more than 250 photographs from all fields of the arts - music, pottery, visual art, acting and dance. Many have not been published before and provide a remarkable insight into the life and culture of Aotearoa.
Marti Friedlander(1928-2016) is one of the most highly regarded New Zealand photographers. Her work and career, spanning 60 years, were central to the country's social and cultural life from the mid-1960s, during several periods of radical social change and upheaval. Their centrality continues. Besides those of children, her portraits of elderly Māori women with moko (traditional facial tattoo), vintners, artists, writers, potters, musicians and actors stand out.
Warren Tippett (1941-1994) Tippett was a seminal figure in the development and innovations in New Zealand studio ceramics. Friedlander took photographs of Tippett in the late 60s and 70s in different locations - in Auckland and Coromandel, in and outside his house, strolling along the beach (accompanied by his dog and cat). He seems to have been one of her favourite subjects.
Warren Tippett, Coromandel, 1972. Photo / Courtesy of the Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust
Philip Clairmont (1949-1984) Clairmont, clad in a red singlet, sits, face (framed by his flurried reddish-brown hair and beard) frontal but his eyes look opaque. His expression is open, a mix of the almost delicate and the almost dejected.
Philip Clairmont, Auckland, 1978. Photo / Courtesy of the Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust
Marcia Russell (1940-2012) Russell had a long career in journalism and documentary film. She was an innovator and trailblazer. Russell's Thursday magazine, which she founded and edited, assumed that young women were intelligent and interested in books, social and political issues and the arts.
Marcia Russell, Auckland 1980. Photo / Courtesy of the Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust
John Drawbridge (1930-2005) Drawbridge was an artist, muralist and printmaker, most famous for his murals in public places such as the Beehive and New Zealand House in London. He was considered one of Aotearoa's most significant artists.
John Drawbridge, c. 1979. Photo / Courtesy of the Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust
Merata Mita (1942-2010) Friedlander photographed Merata Mita (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Te Rangi) for Head and Shoulders: Successful New Zealand Women Talk to Virginia Myers (1986). Mita's work was and is huge.
Merata Mita, Auckland, 1985. Photo / Courtesy of the Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust
Gil Hanly (born 1934), Pat Hanly (1932-2004) Friedlander met Pat and Gil Hanly soon after they returned to New Zealand from England and Europe in 1962. The Hanlys were at the centre of the creative "ferment" in Auckland.
Gil and Pat Hanly, Auckland, 1969. Photo / Courtesy of the Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust
Ann Robinson (born 1944) Robinson is one of New Zealand's most internationally prominent contemporary artists in any medium - in her case, glass. Photographer and artist had known each other since the 1960s.
Ann Robinson, Auckland, 2000. Photo / Courtesy of the Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust
Extract from Marti Friedlander: Portraits of the Artists, by Leonard Bell, published to coincide with an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Wellington. Marti Friedlander: Portraits of the Artists, September 2–November 8, Shed 11, Queens Wharf, Wellington Waterfront.
MARTI FRIEDLANDER: PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS by Leonard Bell. Photo / Supplied
All photographs Courtesy of the Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust. Marti Friedlander: Portraits of the Artists, by Leonard Bell (Auckland University Press, $75) is out on August 27. www.nzportraitgallery.org.nz Open daily between 10.30am and 4.30pm | Free Entry
