Two Women in Auckland Part II

On Sunday we went to the Auckland Art Gallery for a cultural aperitif after Saterday's show(see part I). We were rapt to find that a Rita Angus collection was being shown. We were always going to go, so we had never bothered to check what was on display, so this was a big bonus. We thoroughly enjoyed the collection. It was nice how they incorporated sketches from the artist next to the completed piece for comparison. Then on top of that there was another collection being shown of New Zealand's history through art. Here, some of the big boys in NZ art were also being shown. The Goldie's and the McCahon's are part of the permanent collection and we had seen them before but there were also other iconic pieces that we hadn't seen in person, but knew of. I guess the big winner of the day was being able to seen Shane Cotton's iconic piece Te Wai Whariki in person. I was surprised by the size (it was massive) and the brightness of the blue. Another one that stood out for me was Marian Maguire's Attic Volute Crater, 1779, Depicting Scenes from the Odyssey of Captain Cook. The drama came just before we were going to leave. There was a piece. I forget who it was from but it was titled 3.33. It was twelve axes hanging in a line and above each was a bishops cap. It was a representation of twelve axes that were traded by the English to the Maoris for 30,000 acres of land. The piece was hanging in a corridor between two galleries and I was standing there reading the description of the piece. This guy came along to look at the piece and grabbed one of the axes, I suppose to see if it was real. I gave him a "what the fuck, dude!" glare. Don't get me wrong, I'm not elitist when it comes to art but you don't touch them do you? I went around to the other side of the wall to have a look and there was an almighty clang on the floor. When I came back around, the axe and the bishop's cap were on the floor and the cap was broken. The guy I had seen was gone and there was an older gentleman and his wife were standing there absolutely mortified. A crowd gathered and the older man swore he hadn't touched a thing. I went to look for the guy I had seen and found him upstairs in the Rita Angus collection. I told him what happened and said that I thought that he should go back down and fess up to what he had done to at least let the other guy of the hook. I don't think he believed me until he went back down and saw everyone gathered around the piece on the floor. Bummer, dude.