Hamish Keith
Encyclopedia
Hamish Keith, OBE
(born 15 August 1936) is a writer, art curator, arts consultant and social commentator who lives in Auckland, New Zealand. He is married to the costume designer Ngila Dickson
. He was awarded the OBE for services to the arts in 1981. His most recent project is the arts documentary The Big Picture , directed by Paul Swadel
and produced by Fiona Copland of Filmworks, which garnered 3 nominations at the 2008 New Zealand Screen Awards, and won Best Series and Best Music Awards. In October 2009, the University of Waikato
conferred an honorary doctorate
on Keith.
Keith has been, at times, a controversial figure in the arts. In the 1980s his art history sustained repeated attacks by art historians such as Francis Pound, who criticised An Introduction to New Zealand Painting for its reliance on the 'harsh clarity of New Zealand light' as an explanation for why New Zealand painting followed particular styles. In the early 1990s Keith became embroiled in a public dispute about his role in the National Art Gallery of New Zealand's controversial purchase of two paintings by Charles Goldie. Willing to stand up publicly for his opinions, Keith has played a significant role in the artistic life of New Zealand since the late 1950s.
Keith has been a consistent critic of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
, referring to it as a "theme park", the "cultural equivalent to a fast-food outlet" and "not even a de facto national gallery"
From 1970 to 1976 he hosted the Radio New Zealand weekly interview programme Guest of Honour. In 1982, with Bruce Morrison, he made Profiles, a series of six half hour documentaries on contemporary New Zealand artists Tony Fomison
, Richard Killeen
, Neil Dawson
, Greer Twiss, Philip Clairmont
and Jeffrey Harris.
He wrote four scripts for the pioneering television drama series Pukemanu and was principal writer for Section Seven. In 1984 he wrote and presented the two hour series Housing New Zealand in the Twentieth Century, and presented two series of Kiwi Shorts.
In 1967 he toured the United States on a six month Carnegie Corporation Fellowship. In 1969 he stood as a Labour candidate for the Parliamentary seat of Remuera. In 1970 he was one of a group who set up the Regional Arts Federations in opposition to the original Arts Council. He served as national president Actors Equity and founding president of the Writers Guild.
Appointed Chairman of the restructured Arts Council
from 1975 where he served for six years, board member of the Council of the National Art Gallery, Museum for 14 years and chair of the National Art Gallery for nine. At the arts council he established the Maori and South Pacific council. In 1976 he persuaded the Muldoon government to present the major Colin McCahon
painting Victory over Death to the newly opened National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. He was a member of the board that set up the Museum of New Zealand and a member of its interim board. He has sat on the board of the Auckland Art Gallery and has been consultant to a number of public and private art galleries.
He was part of a small group to persuade Len Lye
to gift his works to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
in New Plymouth and was an original trustee of the Len Lye Foundation. He was the original negotiator for the Te Maori
exhibition. In 1999 he convened the government review into New Zealand’s cultural infrastructure Heart of the Nation. In 2006 Keith curated Towards Auckland: Colin McCahon, the gallery years at the Auckland Art Gallery.
The Big Picture a history of New Zealand art since 1642 Random House 2007
Native Wit Random House 2008
With James Siers, Above Auckland. Auckland: Millwood Press, 1986.
He has also acted as a consultant on a number of publications and book series:
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 15 August 1936) is a writer, art curator, arts consultant and social commentator who lives in Auckland, New Zealand. He is married to the costume designer Ngila Dickson
Ngila Dickson
Ngila Dickson, ONZM is a New Zealand film costume designer.Her most notable work is in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - both of which were filmed in New Zealand, as well as her years of work on Xena: Warrior Princess.She and...
. He was awarded the OBE for services to the arts in 1981. His most recent project is the arts documentary The Big Picture , directed by Paul Swadel
Paul Swadel
]Paul Swadel is a New Zealand film director and producer.He has directed and produced many successful short films which have screened in competition at Cannes, Venice, New York and Sundance film festivals to name but a few. Saatchi & Saatchi spotted his talent early in the commercials world for...
and produced by Fiona Copland of Filmworks, which garnered 3 nominations at the 2008 New Zealand Screen Awards, and won Best Series and Best Music Awards. In October 2009, the University of Waikato
University of Waikato
The University of Waikato is located in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand, and was established in 1964. It has strengths across a broad range of subject areas, particularly its degrees in Computer Science and in Management...
conferred an honorary doctorate
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
on Keith.
Introduction
Hamish Keith has been writing about and working with the arts in New Zealand for almost half a century. He has published a number of books on cultural and social history and cooking as well as the arts. He has contributed reviews and comment on the arts and urban and social issues for numerous magazines and newspapers since writing a weekly column of art news and reviews for the Auckland Star from 1962 to 1975. With Gordon H Brown he wrote the first history of New Zealand art An Introduction to New Zealand Painting, published by William Collins in 1969. Keith worked at the Auckland City Art Gallery from 1958 to 1970, as Student Assistant (1958–61), Assistant Keeper (1961–64), and Keeper of the Gallery (1965–70), before working as a freelance journalist, writer and art consultant.Keith has been, at times, a controversial figure in the arts. In the 1980s his art history sustained repeated attacks by art historians such as Francis Pound, who criticised An Introduction to New Zealand Painting for its reliance on the 'harsh clarity of New Zealand light' as an explanation for why New Zealand painting followed particular styles. In the early 1990s Keith became embroiled in a public dispute about his role in the National Art Gallery of New Zealand's controversial purchase of two paintings by Charles Goldie. Willing to stand up publicly for his opinions, Keith has played a significant role in the artistic life of New Zealand since the late 1950s.
Keith has been a consistent critic of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum and art gallery of New Zealand, located in Wellington. It is branded and commonly known as Te Papa and Our Place; "Te Papa Tongarewa" is broadly translatable as "the place of treasures of this land".The museum's principles...
, referring to it as a "theme park", the "cultural equivalent to a fast-food outlet" and "not even a de facto national gallery"
Media career
Hamish Keith has been a regular radio and television broadcaster and worked on the pioneer arts program Review as reporter and director. He made the first television program on New Zealand art, Waterfall to Waterfall in 1962 and in the late 1960s he made a six part series on New Zealand art for Radio New Zealand. In 1965 he toured the first ever exhibition of contemporary New Zealand art in Australia.From 1970 to 1976 he hosted the Radio New Zealand weekly interview programme Guest of Honour. In 1982, with Bruce Morrison, he made Profiles, a series of six half hour documentaries on contemporary New Zealand artists Tony Fomison
Tony Fomison
Tony Fomison was a notable artist in New Zealand. He was an important post-war visual artist in the country and influenced New Zealand art by incorporating elements of narrative and myth into contemporary art....
, Richard Killeen
Richard Killeen
Richard Killeen is a significant New Zealand painter, sculptor and digital artist.Richard Killeen was educated at the Elam School of Fine Arts, where his lecturers included Colin McCahon, before graduating in 1966...
, Neil Dawson
Neil Dawson
Neil Dawson is a prominent New Zealand sculptor. His best known works are large-scale civic pieces crafted from aluminium and stainless steel, often made using a lattice of natural forms which between them form a geometric whole...
, Greer Twiss, Philip Clairmont
Philip Clairmont
Philip Clairmont was a New Zealand painter. Clairmont studied in Christchurch under Rudolf Gopas, graduating from the Canterbury School of Fine Arts in 1970. In 1973 he received a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council grant, and by 1977 he was painting full time in his new home city of Auckland...
and Jeffrey Harris.
He wrote four scripts for the pioneering television drama series Pukemanu and was principal writer for Section Seven. In 1984 he wrote and presented the two hour series Housing New Zealand in the Twentieth Century, and presented two series of Kiwi Shorts.
Arts career
Keith completed his Diploma in Fine Arts at the Canterbury School of Fine Art in 1956 and worked briefly at the Christchurch Press before gaining employment at the Auckland City Art Gallery. In 1960 he completed a studentship at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, followed by a Museums Diploma from the Museums Association of Great Britain in 1964.In 1967 he toured the United States on a six month Carnegie Corporation Fellowship. In 1969 he stood as a Labour candidate for the Parliamentary seat of Remuera. In 1970 he was one of a group who set up the Regional Arts Federations in opposition to the original Arts Council. He served as national president Actors Equity and founding president of the Writers Guild.
Appointed Chairman of the restructured Arts Council
Creative New Zealand
The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets and audiences for New Zealand arts domestically and internationally...
from 1975 where he served for six years, board member of the Council of the National Art Gallery, Museum for 14 years and chair of the National Art Gallery for nine. At the arts council he established the Maori and South Pacific council. In 1976 he persuaded the Muldoon government to present the major Colin McCahon
Colin McCahon
Colin John McCahon was a prominent New Zealand artist. During his life he also worked in art galleries and as a university lecturer...
painting Victory over Death to the newly opened National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. He was a member of the board that set up the Museum of New Zealand and a member of its interim board. He has sat on the board of the Auckland Art Gallery and has been consultant to a number of public and private art galleries.
He was part of a small group to persuade Len Lye
Len Lye
Len Lye, born Leonard Charles Huia Lye , was a Christchurch, New Zealand-born artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. His films are held in archives such as the New Zealand Film Archive, British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Pacific...
to gift his works to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is a contemporary art museum at New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. The gallery receives core funding from the New Plymouth District Council....
in New Plymouth and was an original trustee of the Len Lye Foundation. He was the original negotiator for the Te Maori
Te Maori
Te Maori was a watershed exhibition of Māori art in 1984 . It is notable as the first occasion on which Māori art had been exhibited by Māori the first occasion on which Māori art was shown internationally as art...
exhibition. In 1999 he convened the government review into New Zealand’s cultural infrastructure Heart of the Nation. In 2006 Keith curated Towards Auckland: Colin McCahon, the gallery years at the Auckland Art Gallery.
Publications
Hamish Keith has published a number of books on art, social history, self-help and cooking, including:The Big Picture a history of New Zealand art since 1642 Random House 2007
Native Wit Random House 2008
- A Lovely Day Tomorrow: NZ in the 1940s. Auckland: Vintage Books, 1991.
- A Plague of Professionals. Auckland: Auckland Museum and Institute, 1990.
With James Siers, Above Auckland. Auckland: Millwood Press, 1986.
- With Dinah Bradley, Becoming Single; a separated person’s resource book. Auckland & Australia: Century Hutchinson NZ & Simon & Schuster, 1988.
- With Dr Gail Ratcliffe, Being Single and Happy. Australia: Simon & Schuster, 1991.
- How to Discover New Zealand. Auckland: Braynart Publishing, 1986.
- Images of Early New Zealand. Auckland: David Bateman, 1983.
- 'New Zealand', in The Visual Arts. Australia: Jacaranda Press, 1972.
- New Zealand Art 1827-1890. Wellington: AH & AW Reed, 1968.
- With Gordon H. Brown, New Zealand Painting 1827 - 1967: an introduction. Auckland: Collins, 1969.
- New Zealand Yesterdays: a social history of New Zealand in the 20th century. Auckland: Reader's Digest Books, 1984.
- Salute to New Zealand. Auckland: Lansdowne Press, 1990.
- With Tony Papas, The Bayswater Brasserie Book of Food. Australia: Simon and Schuster, 1989.
He has also acted as a consultant on a number of publications and book series:
- Consultant Editor, The New Zealand Book of Events. Auckland: Reed Methuen, 1986.
- Editorial Advisory Board, New Zealand Encyclopaedia. Auckland: Bateman, 1983.
- Editorial Consultant, Wild New Zealand. Reader's Digest Books, 1979.
- General Editor, New Zealand Art Series, AH & AW Reed, 1976-79.
External links
- Interview with Hamish Keith as conducted by Graeme Lay for the Cultural Icons project. Audio and video.