13 Apr 2019

Gretchen Albrecht, Luke Smythe: Between gesture and geometry

From Saturday Morning, 11:04 am on 13 April 2019

Gretchen Albrecht Photo: Massey University Press

Luke Smythe Photo: Massey University Press

Gretchen Albrecht is one of New Zealand's most prominent painters. A forerunner of the women's art movement, Albrecht's work of the 1960s and 70s anticipated key aspects of feminist art practice.

Art historian Luke Smythe, who teaches art history at Monash University in Melbourne, has had a long association with Albrecht and has celebrated and analysed her work in a new book called Gretchen Albrecht: Between gesture and geometry.

A Gretchen Albrecht exhibition by the same name has just opened at the Two Rooms art gallery in Central Auckland.

Gretchen Albrecht: Between gesture and geometry

The Suitor 1964 oil on canvas 72.5 x 97cm

Red Sky - Golden Cloud 1972 acrylic on canvas 125 x 78 cm Private collection, Auckland

Desert Edge 1980 acrylic on canvas 173 x 143 cm

Pacific Annunciation 1984 acrylic on canvas (two panels) 153 x 306 cm

Night Lake 1989 gouache and collage on paper 153.5 x 232 cm Erika and Robin Congreve, Auckland

'and the deep sea swell' 2008 acrylic on canvas (two panels) 200 x 400 cm

Seven Sorrows of Mary (Simeon) acrylic and oil on canvas 137 x 245 cm Louise and Gary Mollard, Hamilton

Seven Sorrows of Mary (flight) acrylic and oil on canvas 120 x 190 cm Carol England, Auckland

Seven Sorrows of Mary (loss) acrylic and oil on canvas 120 x 190 cm

Seven Sorrows of Mary (daughters) acrylic and oil on canvas 115 x 183 cm

Seven Sorrows of Mary (Cross) acrylic and oil on canvas 121 x 190 cm Jan and Trevor Farmer, Auckland

Seven Sorrows of Mary (deposition) acrylic and oil on canvas 120 x 190 cm

Seven Sorrows of Mary (burial) acrylic and oil on canvas 137 x 245 cm JB Gibbs Art Trust, Auckland, Installation Auckland Art Gallery 2002

Belladonna 2013 acrylic and oil on canvas 176 x 300 cm Two Rooms, Auckland

The Fold in the Sky 2016 acrylic and oil on canvas (two panels) 222 x 221 cm