Whanganui curator celebrates women sculptors in NZ Portrait Gallery exhibition

Milly Mitchell-Anyon is the curator of In the Round: Portraits by Women Sculptors, at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery in Wellington. Photo / Supplied

Whanganui curator Milly Mitchell-Anyon has brought together a range of figurative sculpture works by women for an exhibition at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata.

The exhibition, In the Round: Portraits by Women Sculptors, spans works from the past century by New Zealand women.

“Despite the rich history of sculpture in this country, there have been noticeably fewer women who have pursued careers in the field — this is especially true for Māori women, who are under-represented in collections, exhibitions and public sculpture,” Mitchell-Anyon said.

It was exciting to be involved in the first sculpture exhibition in some time to be held at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery, she said.

“I was asked about a year ago if I wanted to do an exhibition for the Portrait Gallery about women sculptors in New Zealand.

“It was quite a big idea so I spent some time dwindling it down into a concrete concept. I tried to have different sculptors that had a connection and wove a long span of about 100 years. I landed on seven different sculptors.”

They are Margaret Butler, Paerau Corneal, Allison Duff, Andrea du Chatenier, Molly Macalister, Francis Upritchard and Ann Verdcourt.

“Each of these artists offers a different way of thinking about sculpture and portraiture in Aotearoa. ‘Sculpture in the round’ refers to three-dimensional free-standing work that can be viewed from all sides, and this is one of the aims of this exhibition — to see figurative sculpture by a number of artists, who each tell a different story about sculpture in Aotearoa.

“One of the hard things is that sculptures are installed somewhere — that was a first big challenge. I had to find ones that can travel.”

The exhibition includes 25 sculptures — two to five an artist.

“Some of the Margaret Butler sculptures haven’t been seen in decades so it was good to be able to get them out of storage,” Mitchell-Anyon said.

The exhibition is on until May 14. Photo / Supplied

The sculptures range from bronzes made in the 1930s, to contemporary works by Whanganui artist du Chatenier. Some sculptures involved “crazy material use”, Mitchell-Anyon said.

“There’s a congruency between the sculptors and their works. There are some nice relationships.

“For example, Bird Watcher (1961) by Molly Macalister is the plaster cast of the work that sat in Colin and Anne McCahon’s garden. Alison Duff’s sculpture Frank Sargeson (1963), which has been on display at the Auckland Central City Library since 1965, will be coming to the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata – making his Wellington debut. There is also a Colin McCahon cast. Molly Macalister is best known for big sculptures of bronze and cast concrete. She was friends with Frank Sargeson and he found a small piece of wood on a beach which she used for a sculpture.”

Andrea du Chatenier's Black Haired Weeper with Tears of Gold (2014). Collection Barry Hopkins Art Trust, courtesy of Waikato Museum.

Sculpture was a relatively new art form in Aotearoa, especially for women, Mitchell-Anyon said.

“When I was researching this, I found in the early 20th century there was a big push to get sculptors from England to come to New Zealand.

“In fact, it was not until 1962 that the first woman was commissioned to make a public sculpture [in New Zealand].

“So it’s quite a new art form in a way, although Māori carvings are sculptural and figurative.”

In recent years, it had become glaringly evident that the statues and monuments in public spaces were largely of men, and were often created by men, Mitchell-Anyon said.

“This is a widespread issue that can be seen globally, including here. The protests that followed the death of George Floyd in the United States led to the removal of several Confederate monuments, and this movement was also felt here in Aotearoa where the statue of John Hamilton was removed in Kirikiriroa Hamilton. Sculptures and monuments are not neutral.”

Mitchell-Anyon said curating the exhibition had been a long process, taking about a year to come together. She has also been covering a maternity leave vacancy at Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery, but will move to a permanent curator’s role at The Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt in late March.

In the Round: Portraits by Women Sculptors opened on February 23, and runs until May 14 at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata, Shed 11, Wellington Waterfront.