Christchurch Art Gallery celebrates reopening

A book highlighting art treasures held by Christchurch Art Gallery has been published to coincide with the quake-damaged gallery's reopening. Photo / Kurt Bayer

A stunning hardcover book highlighting 101 art treasures held by Christchurch Art Gallery, including an Andy Warhol screenprint of Mao Zedong, has been published to coincide with the quake-damaged gallery's reopening.

An emotional crowd flocked through the reopened doors on Saturday for the first time since the deadly February 22, 2011 natural disaster.

Around 360 artworks are now on display in the opening exhibitions upstairs, downstairs, in the foyer and on the roof.

Visitors will be able to view old favourites, including Michael Parekowhai's bronze bull Chapman's Homer, as well as a selection of the 500 new pieces the gallery has acquired over the past five years while it underwent $59 million in repairs.

To mark the reopening, the gallery has published a large book showcasing 101 artworks from its collection, including paintings, drawings, sculpture, film and photographs.

It includes pieces from some of New Zealand art's biggest names, including Colin McCahon, Rita Angus, Louise Henderson, Toss Woollaston, Ralph Hotere and Milan Mrkusich.

The 353-page hardcover also features international artworks, including Andy Warhol's 1972 screenprint of Mao Zedong, a Henry Raeburn portrait, L.S. Lowry's Factory at Widnes, and a landscape by Dutch Golden Age painter Meindert Hobbema.

The book, with its conversational texts, has been designed to feel as if the reader is standing with the curator in front of the artworks.

"Experience the movement of the painter's brushstrokes, the glinting surface of a glass sculpture, the almost-hidden detail of a Dutch master. 101 brings the art experience to the page," says its blurb.