In January this year the Gallery was fortunate to be gifted a significant body of work from the collection of Jim Barr and Mary Barr in Wellington. Included within the gift of 65 works are a large number of drawings by Michael Smither featuring interior and still-life studies, drawings of the couple’s son, a self-portrait, rock pool drawing, and a study for Stations of the Cross. Drawn features a selection of these drawings.

 

Born in New Plymouth in 1939, Michael Smither studied at the Elam School of Art, Auckland and is renowned as a painter, printmaker, sculptor and musician. During his long and prolific career Michael Smither has found continuing inspiration in his immediate environment. This has resulted in a large body of work that is synonymous with the New Zealand landscape and culture. He paints coastal and mountain landscapes, family and children, domestic objects and religious symbols. Michael Smither lives and works north of Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula.