A Turnbull photographic portrait gallery of eminent New Zealanders

Turnbull Library Record, Volume XVII, Issue 2, 1 October 1984, Page 81

A Turnbull photographic portrait gallery of eminent New Zealanders

As part of the programme for strengthening the Alexander Turnbull Library’s collections of portraits of eminent New Zealanders the Library has commissioned Kenneth Quinn to photograph New Zealanders prominent in intellectual and cultural life.

The Library began to place particular emphasis on the acquisition of paintings, drawings and sculpture of prominent New Zealand writers, artists, and musicians in the mid-1970s and commissioned several artists to produce works for the portrait collections.* The subjects of the present series will likewise include writers, artists and musicians, together with actors, producers, teachers, publishers, critics, administrators, patrons, and others who have helped to develop our intellectual and cultural life. The object is to place on record how a certain group of people looked at a particular point in New Zealand history. It is anticipated that some 20 to 25 portraits will be completed each year. The selection of people to be included in the Kenneth Quinn series will be made by the Chief Librarian with the assistance of a small informal advisory committee. Suggestions for inclusion in the series are welcomed. Kenneth Quinn has been asked to produce one 400 X 500 mm print of each portrait for exhibition purposes, together with a smaller master copy for permanent preservation. The exhibition prints, together with the portraits in bronze and oils, will form part of a standing display in the new National Library building of portrait images of New Zealanders who have made a significant contribution to national life. This gallery can never be a complete record because of the lack of suitable portraits capable of withstanding long term display without damage, but an attempt will be made to make it as comprehensive as possible in the case of those who have had a special association with the Turnbull. Kenneth Quinn, who was Professor of Classics at the University of Otago from 1965 until 1969, returned to New Zealand recently after fifteen years at the University of Toronto. He is the author of ten books, mainly on literary criticism, the most recent being How Literature Works (1982). From 1977 to 1983 he was engaged on a commission to photograph the entire academic staff of University College, Toronto, for the College archives. This project, which produced 125 portraits over a period of six years, has been taken as a model for the present series, three portraits from which are reproduced here.

Printed by Whitcoulls Ltd for the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust

* Described by Moira Long, Turnbull Library Record, 16 (May 1983), 38-44.