A Tourist in Paradise Lost: The Art of Michael Illingworth

13 July - 28 October 2001 in the Entire Gallery
The late Michael Illingworth is something of an enigma: a well-respected modernist painter about whom very little is known or recorded. Although Illingworth's emblematic figurative paintings are featured in all major New Zealand public art collections, and have been collected by many private patrons, until now there has been no published research on his work. This City Gallery Wellington initiated exhibition is the first thorough examination of Illingworth's oeuvre; long overdue, and it will fill a gap in New Zealand art history.

As part of its commitment to further scholarship into key figures of New Zealand art, City Gallery Wellington has commissioned leading younger curators Damian Skinner and Aaron Lister to curate this important survey exhibition designed to bring Illingworth's work to public prominence. The exhibition will explore Illingworth's images of suburbia and the social context of his work, placing this idiosyncratic figure into the canon of New Zealand art history.

Principal Sponsor