Photo gallery: Whangārei's Hundertwasser Art Centre presents new book about the artist's legacy in New Zealand

The new book Hundertwasser in New Zealand took pride of place in a presentation this past Wednesday 7 September at Whangārei's stunning Hundertwasser Art Centre. 

The Hundertwasser Art Centre on the evening of 7 September

Supporters of the centre, local dignitaries and Oratia Books' publishing team were in attendance to celebrate the publication. 

A highlight was the sharing of recorded messages from Joram Harel and Andrea Fürst of the Hundertwasser Foundation in Vienna, which commissioned the book, and from Andreas J. Hirsch, the book's esteemed author.

Joram Harel, chairperson of the Hundertwasser Non-Profit Foundation, Vienna

Andrea Fürst, director of the Hundertwasser Foundation, Vienna 

Author Andreas J. Hirsch in a recorded message from Vienna

Ken Couper, Whangārei District councillor and member of the Hātea Art Precinct Trust, spoke of his pride in what the Hundertwasser Art Centre has brought to the city.

Ken Couper addresses the audience

Rebecca Varley, fundraising and event manager of the Hundertwasser Art Centre, MC'ed the evening

Pam Tothill, long-time support of the Hundertwasser Art Centre, then gave a spirited reading of selected passages from the book.

Pam Tothill reading from Hundertwasser in New Zealand

Former mayor Stan Semenoff speaking (photo courtesy Sue Shepherd)

The book team, from left: Carol Smart, Richard Smart (Hundertwasser Foundation representative in NZ); and from Oratia Books, Carolyn Lagahetau (editorial director), Gill Hughes (publicist), Ella Fischer (editor) and Belinda Cooke (sales & marketing consultant)

Hundertwasser in New Zealand: The Art of Creating Paradise is available at the Hundertwasser Art Centre and at good bookstores around the country.

The Hundertwasser Art Centre features prominently in the book

Thanks to Carol Smart, Sue Shepherd and Carolyn Lagahetau for photos.

Hundertwasser in New Zealand |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004214-0 |  RRP $70

Deluxe hardback, 260 x 190 mm portrait, 240 pages colour

Sumptuous new book honours the artist Hundertwasser's legacy in New Zealand

 
 Hundertwasser in New Zealand

The Art of Creating Paradise

Andreas J. Hirsch

‘New Zealand is for me a kind of promised land.'

 

In public art and architecture, the love that Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000) felt for his adopted homeland rings clear. 

The Koru Flag that he gifted the country, his Public Toilets that revived the heart of Kawakawa, and now the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangārei testify to the immense place New Zealand had in his heart. 

Hundertwasser in New Zealand is a lavishly illustrated new book that tells both the public and personal stories of what drew Hundertwasser to his ‘promised land’. 

 

The opening chapter traces Hundertwasser's fascination with New Zealand and his arrival in the 1970s

His dreams of New Zealand started early, when his mother would tell him of this land of peace as they hid from the Nazis in Second World War Vienna. 

As his artistic reputation grew and his travels expanded, Hundertwasser felt ever more drawn to New Zealand as a place of refuge, where he could paint as well as create his version of paradise, and live a life in harmony with nature. 

 

He first arrived in April 1973, mounting a major exhibition and travelling the country. Later he would return on his ship theRegentag (‘Rainy Day’), settling at Kaurinui, the land he bought and restored in the Bay of Islands. 

‘Art must form a bridge to nature,’ Hundertwasser observed; he was never nearer to living this peaceful reconciliation with nature than in New Zealand.

 

Hundertwasser in New Zealand is a richly illustrated and accessible account of the artist’s love of Aotearoa, his interaction with the people and land, and the influence these had on his work. 

Planning and realisation of the Koru Flag

In superb, lucid prose, eminent curator and writer Andreas J. Hirsch outlines the key stages of the artist’s life and his trajectory in New Zealand — including chapters on his commitment to nature, the Regentag in Aotearoa, and the art, philosophy and architecture he created here.

Featuring a rich assortment of paintings, drawings, sketches, photographs and the artist’s writing, this book is itself an artistic statement that will connect with readers of all kinds and help enshrine Hundertwasser as a New Zealand icon.

Whangārei's Hundertwasser Art Centre features prominently in the book's latter pages

The Author

Andreas J. Hirsch is a writer, curator and photographic artist who lives in Vienna, Austria. He has a long involvement with the art of  Hundertwasser. Andreas was curator of the KunstHausWien (Hundertwasser Museum) in Vienna from 2009 to 2014; in 2011 he edited the book Hundertwasser — The Art of the Green Path and curated the exhibition of the same title for the museum. He has created exhibitions about artists and photographers including Henri Cartier-Bresson and Linda McCartney; among his other writings are books on Picasso, HR Giger, Beethoven, and the history of Vienna. 

Publication Date: 16 August 2022 |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004214-0 |  RRP $70

Deluxe hardback, 260 x 190 mm portrait, 240 pages colour

Oratia Books Catalogue 2022 — opening borders, opening books

The Oratia Books Catalogue 2022 is out now in print and digital form. 

We fly the Koru Flag on the cover, in homage to its creator Friedensreich Hundertwasser, whose story we'll publish this July in Hundertwasser in New Zealand.

Alongside that deluxe book, this year's catalogue presents more than a dozen new titles across children's and non-fiction genres, along with some significant reprints.

Flying the Koru Flag reflects our desire to embrace the world and new ideas, now that the movement of people and ideas across borders is resuming following pandemic closures.

As ever, this year's programme and our other activities couldn't happen without the incredible authors and illustrators who put their hearts and souls into the books, supported by our talented editors, designers, sales reps and marketers. 

Special thanks to Cheryl Smith and Alessandra Zecchini for the catalogue design and content, and Christine Borra and her team at YourBooks for the fine print job. 

The catalogue introduction follows; click here to view or download the PDF. To request a print copy, please email info@oratia.co.nz

As pandemic restrictions start to ease, Oratia embraces the world in 2022. The Koru Flag, designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser as an alternative New Zealand flag, flies in our forest. We will honour this global spirit this year by publishing the story of the artist’s life in New Zealand.

Despite Covid-19 challenges, our international commitment remains undimmed, and was rewarded with the BOP Bologna Prize 2021 for Best Children’s Publisher, Oceania. In that spirit, this year’s children’s list includes the Kiwi–Turkish collaboration The Water Bottle; a blend of Māori, Pākehā and Indian heritage in The River in our Backyard; and wide cultural diversity in The Grandmothers of Pikitea Street.

An arts and crafts focus extends from Hundertwasser in New Zealand to a celebration of the great artist Selwyn Muru, and a new edition of Len Gale’s Greenstone Carving. Artist and writer Richard Wolfe reflects on human impact in Footprints on the Land, and our New Zealand Classics edition of A.W. Reed’s Illustrated Māori Dictionary revives Roger Hart’s timeless drawings.

To mark the tenth anniversary of the international hit I Need a New Bum!, September will see a te reo Māori edition. The Bum series rocks on — the fourth, My Bum is SO CHEEKY!, entered bestseller lists in the UK and US early this year. And there’ll be more irreverent fun for kids with the riotous rugby rhymes of Peter Millett’s Hickory Dickory Kick.

Sandra Carrod’s Weather and Climate New Zealand adds a sixth book to The NZ Series, alongside teacher resources to support the series in schools. Also for students or general readers, The Moana Oceania series will introduce Polynesian cultures in English and local languages, thanks to support from Creative New Zealand.

Whoever and wherever you are in the world, we welcome you to find a home with Oratia Books.