Story: Creative life

New Zealand art (1st of 2)

New Zealand art

This watercolour, ‘Mt Egmont from the south’, has become an icon of New Zealand art. Painted by New Zealand Company surveyor and draughtsman Charles Heaphy in 1840, it is impressionistic and topographically inaccurate, but arresting. As a newcomer to the country, Heaphy brought his cultural values and memories, and a sense of awe, to this interpretation of a foreign landscape.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 025-008-C
Watercolour by Charles Heaphy

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Nancy Swarbrick, 'Creative life - New Zealand creativity', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/1735/new-zealand-art (accessed 19 March 2024)

Story by Nancy Swarbrick