Bloomsbury South

The Arts in Christchurch 1933 - 1953

Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, General Art, Art History, Biography & Memoir, Artists, Architects & Photographers
Cover of the book Bloomsbury South by Peter Simpson, Auckland University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Peter Simpson ISBN: 9781775588542
Publisher: Auckland University Press Publication: July 20, 2016
Imprint: Auckland University Press Language: English
Author: Peter Simpson
ISBN: 9781775588542
Publisher: Auckland University Press
Publication: July 20, 2016
Imprint: Auckland University Press
Language: English

For two decades in Christchurch, New Zealand, a cast of extraordinary men and women remade the arts. Variously between 1933 and 1953, Christchurch was the home of Angus and Bensemann and McCahon, Curnow and Glover and Baxter, the Group, the Caxton Press and the Little Theatre, Landfall and Tomorrow, Ngaio Marsh and Douglas Lilburn. It was a city in which painters lived with writers, writers promoted musicians, in which the arts and artists from different forms were deeply intertwined. And it was a city where artists developed a powerful synthesis of European modernist influences and an assertive New Zealand nationalism that gave mid-century New Zealand cultural life its particular shape. In this book, Simpson tells the remarkable story of the rise and fall of this ‘Bloomsbury South' and the arts and artists that made it. Simpson brings to life the individual talents and their passions, but he also takes us inside the scenes that they created together: Bethell and her visiting coterie of younger poets; Glover and Bensemann's exacting typography at the Caxton Press; the yearly exhibitions and aesthetic clashes of the Group; McCahon and Baxter's developing friendship; the effects of Brasch's patronage; Marsh's Shakespearian re-creations at the Little Theatre. Simpson re-creates a Christchurch we have lost, where a group of artists collaborated to create a distinctively New Zealand art which spoke to the condition of their country as it emerged into the modern era.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

For two decades in Christchurch, New Zealand, a cast of extraordinary men and women remade the arts. Variously between 1933 and 1953, Christchurch was the home of Angus and Bensemann and McCahon, Curnow and Glover and Baxter, the Group, the Caxton Press and the Little Theatre, Landfall and Tomorrow, Ngaio Marsh and Douglas Lilburn. It was a city in which painters lived with writers, writers promoted musicians, in which the arts and artists from different forms were deeply intertwined. And it was a city where artists developed a powerful synthesis of European modernist influences and an assertive New Zealand nationalism that gave mid-century New Zealand cultural life its particular shape. In this book, Simpson tells the remarkable story of the rise and fall of this ‘Bloomsbury South' and the arts and artists that made it. Simpson brings to life the individual talents and their passions, but he also takes us inside the scenes that they created together: Bethell and her visiting coterie of younger poets; Glover and Bensemann's exacting typography at the Caxton Press; the yearly exhibitions and aesthetic clashes of the Group; McCahon and Baxter's developing friendship; the effects of Brasch's patronage; Marsh's Shakespearian re-creations at the Little Theatre. Simpson re-creates a Christchurch we have lost, where a group of artists collaborated to create a distinctively New Zealand art which spoke to the condition of their country as it emerged into the modern era.

More books from Auckland University Press

Cover of the book Hello Girls & Boys! by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book Cookhouse by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book Snowing Down South by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book Today is the Piano's Birthday by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book The World, The Flesh and the Devil by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book How to Be Dead in a Year of Snakes by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book Answering to the Language by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book Labour's Path to Political Independence by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book Lost and Gone Away by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book Simply by Sailing in a New Direction by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book The Tribes of Muriwhenua by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book Adverse Reactions by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book Coates of the Kaipara by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book The Tudor Style by Peter Simpson
Cover of the book Treasury by Peter Simpson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy