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Haurongo: Prior, Ian Ambury Miller

The arts

Image
A man standing in front of two paintings.

Ian Prior and his wife Elespie shared a deep passion for the arts. Together they built an important collection of works by local artists and supported artists, musicians, poets and writers seeking to express an independent identity for Aotearoa.

Here Ian presents Colin McCahon’s 1975 painting ‘A poster for the Urewera no 2’ to Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History in 2008. Ian’s daughter Bettina Bradbury and John Te Rangiāniwaniwa Rangihau’s daughter Kararaina Rangihau (Tūhoe, Te Arawa) wrote about the significance of this piece to their respective families in the book McCahon 100: connecting cultural legacy with contemporary practice (2020).

 

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Private collection

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Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Bettina Bradbury. 'Prior, Ian Ambury Miller', Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau, i tāngia tuatahitia ki 2025. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/47947/the-arts (accessed 4 June 2026).