New Zealand portraits / Richard Wolfe.

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 224-233) and index.

The nature of a New Zealand portrait -- Looking at ourselves -- 18th century -- 19th century -- 20th century -- 21st century -- Endnotes.

This magnificent book is a collection of New Zealand painted portraits from our earliest times. With selections based on the quality of the art and the importance of the artist, this offering promises to be a truly memorable and significant snapshot of a vital aspect of New Zealand's art heritage. After introductory essays, in which author Richard Wolfe discusses alternately the nature of a portrait and New Zealand's history of portraiture as an art form, the book features 83 full-page portraits alongside their provenance, historical significance and often little-known facts. The coverage begins with the work of early explorer, settler and soldier artists such as Augustus Earle and George Angas, covers images of Māori by artists such as Gottfried Lindauer and Charles F. Goldie, advances through to the work of artists such as Rita Angus, Colin McCahon, and Nigel Brown, and finishes with the current (and future) generation of noted New Zealand painters.