New Vision Gallery

New Vision Gallery was a contemporary craft and art gallery operating in Auckland, New Zealand in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.[1]:65

New Vision Gallery
Established1957 (1957)
DissolvedOctober 1986 (1986-10)
LocationAuckland, New Zealand
TypeArt gallery
FounderKees Hos and Tina Hos

History

The Gallery was established in 1957 by Dutch artists Kees (Cornelis) Hos (born 1916, The Hague, Netherlands - died 3 December 2015), a printmaker and painter, and his wife, weaver Tina (Albertine) Hos (died 1976), who emigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands in 1956.[2][3] Kees and Tina Hos originally opened the New Vision Craft Centre in Takapuna with the aim of making high quality work by New Zealand craftspeople available to the public.[2] The gallery was named after Bauhaus artist László Moholy-Nagy's influential book The New Vision, from Material to Architecture.[2] It became one of a small number of retail spaces and dealer galleries, including Helen Hitchings Gallery in Wellington (opened 1949) and Brenner Associates in Auckland, that showed contemporary craft alongside fine art and design.[4]

In early 1959 the Hoses moved New Vision to His Majesty's Arcade in central Auckland (36.847667°S 174.765204°E / -36.847667; 174.765204), and it became the city's first retail outlet focused on New Zealand potters, jewellers, weaver, and other craftspeople. New Vision became the first retail outlet in Auckland city to concentrate exclusively on the work of New Zealand potters and other craftspeople.[2] In the following years the Hoses became New Zealand's leading dealers for the applied arts.[5] In 1965 the Hoses secured space above the craft gallery to open another gallery, devoted to contemporary art.[1]:65 The decision to open the second gallery was prompted by the closure of the Ikon Gallery, one of the few dealer galleries in Auckland at the time.[2]

New Vision was one of few dealer galleries in New Zealand to embrace abstract art. Gordon Walters and Theo Schoon had their first solo shows here, and the Hoses were early supporters of expressionist painter Philip Trusttrum.[6][7] Art historian Andrew Paul Wood notes:

The influence of New Vision on the Auckland art scene at the time was phenomenal, and aside from exhibiting, the Hoses gave tremendous moral support and friendship to a number of artists, including Colin McCahon. They were a rare thing in those days, champions of modernism and abstraction, though not exclusively, and a point of contact with developments in Europe.[8]

The gallery also held important applied arts shows. Jeweller Jens Hoyer Hansen held his first solo show there in 1960.[9] In 1970 the gallery staged Silver, Gold, Greenstone, the first substantial exhibition of contemporary jewellery in New Zealand.[1]:67 The exhibition included jewellers Kobi Bosshard, Jens Hansen, Gunter Taemmler and Ida Hudig, as well as artists not seen primarily as jewellers, including Paul Beadle, Theo Schoon and Edward Kindleysides.[1]:67 Ceramicist Bronwynne Cornish had her first significant solo exhibition, China Cabinet Curiosities, at the gallery in 1971.[10]

In 1971, Kees Hos moved to Melbourne, where he had been invited to establish and lead the School of Art and Design at the Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education (now Monash University).[2][11] Tina Hos remained in Auckland to manage the gallery.[2] Tina Hos died in September 1976 and Pam Beca (later Donnelly) continued to run the business until it was taken over in 1981 by James Peters.[2] New Vision closed in October 1986.[2] Kees Hos died on 3 December 2015.[8] The Arcade and Theatre building was demolished in December 1987-January 1988.[12]

An exhibition examining the history of the gallery, curated by Joanna Trezise, was held at the Gus Fisher Gallery in 2008.[6]

Artists

Artists shown at New Vision Gallery include:[2][6][10][13][14][15]

References
  1. Skinner, Damian; Murray, Kevin (2014). Place and Adornment: A history of contemporary jewellery in Australia and New Zealand. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i. ISBN 9781454702771.
  2. "New Vision Archive". The Community Archive. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  3. "Hos, Kees". Find New Zealand Artists. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  4. Lucy, Hammonds; Douglas, Lloyd Jenkins (10 October 2014). "Crafts and applied arts - Craft in the 1950s and 1960s". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  5. "Kees Hos". Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  6. "New Vision: The New Vision Gallery 1965-76". Artbash. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  7. Ross, James (June–July 1977). "Philip Trusttrum's Paintings of the 'Seventies". Art New Zealand. 6. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  8. Wood, Andrew Paul (23 December 2015). "Kees Hos: Printmaker, Gallerist, Teacher, War Hero". EyeContact. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  9. Telford, Helen (2000). The Jeweller’s Mark: The Jens Hansen Workshop Story (PDF). Nelson: The Suter Art Gallery. p. 4. ISBN 0-9583590-6-7. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  10. "Bronwynne Cornish". Masterworks Gallery. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  11. "Kees Hos: Seventy Years of Art Practice". LaTrobe Regional Art Gallery. Archived from the original on 15 March 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  12. Auckland's theatre on the Haymarket -- His Majesty's Theatre and Arcade (1902-1987) TimeSpanner, 6 October 2015 (accessed 5 March 2017)
  13. New Zealand Painting (PDF). Auckland City Art Gallery. 1966.
  14. "Dame Louise Henderson". Warwick Henderson Gallery. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  15. "New Vision Gallery exhibition 1984". Richard Killeen artist website. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
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