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Story: Awards and prizes

Kelliher Art Show, 1957

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Kelliher Art Show, 1957

The Kelliher Art Prize was founded and financed by Auckland brewery magnate Sir Henry Kelliher to reflect his traditional taste in landscape painting. This 1957 photo shows the judges for the prize's second year – landscape painter Robert Johnson (left) and National Art Gallery director Stewart McLennan. Entries for the £500 prize were required to be in oils, measure at least seven-and-a-half square feet, and depict 'the visible aspects of New Zealand’s landscape and coastal scenes in a realistic and traditional way'. The quality of entries attracted severe criticism from progressive quarters, and the prize was last awarded in 1970.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Morrie Hill Collection (PAColl-4814)

Reference: 1/2-177283-F

by Morrie Hill

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

Mark Derby, Awards and prizes – Visual arts, music and theatre awards, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/44684/kelliher-art-show-1957 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Mark Derby, published 26 March 2014, updated 1 April 2020.