A microwave cookbook, a photograph of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara golfing and a handwritten lesson plan reflect the many interests of eminent New Zealand artist Ralph Hotere, as revealed in his library.
They are aspects of the artist’s life that may never have been seen if his library had not been donated to the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 2021 by his wife, artist Mary McFarlane.
Hotere’s is one of few artists’ libraries held by New Zealand institutions. There are believed to be three others — Tony Fomison’s library at the Turnbull Library, Wellington; Leo Bensemann’s at the Christchurch Art Gallery and Bill Sutton’s at the University of Canterbury Library.
‘‘The survival of an artist’s library is quite a scarce occurrence,’’ Dunedin Public Libraries Heritage Collections librarian Dr Donald Kerr says.
‘‘As we proceeded we felt the display should reflect the whole man and be a representative selection.
‘‘I didn’t want too much bias on the art which many folk would know about,’’ Kerr says.
Using Vincent O’Sullivan’s biography The Dark Is Light Enough to guide them, they scoured through the collection of books, paperwork, pamphlets, journals, travel guides, photographs and a small number of records Hotere had collected over his lifetime.
‘‘Aspects teased out included pastimes like golf and chess and cooking and music, his reading, the influences on his art — not only early ones but later and within New Zealand and outside. So a wide range of books reflect this.’’
Deans was assigned to look at Hotere’s political views while Roughan looked at him as an artist and Kerr took on the rest.
It took about six months to pull together the items for the exhibition.
‘‘I mean 900 items isn't a particularly big library, although it probably didn't comprise his entire library. I think there were probably bits and pieces that went elsewhere over the years, so what we got was what was left,’’ Roughan says.
‘‘We were fortunate that there were items in the collection that helped reflect those aspects,’’ Kerr says.
That includes books such as Keith Woodley’s Godwits and Michael King’s Maori: A photographic and social history, the poem Tangi at Mitimiti by Hotere’s second wife, Cilla McQueen, and some early photographs by Hardwicke Knight of Otago, Broad Bay and Dunedin, as well as postcards from Hotere’s ‘‘Baby Iron’’ exhibition in Wellington.
Hotere was 12 when his older brother Jack died in World War 2 in battle at the Sangro River in Italy in 1943. In 1963 Hotere travelled to visit his gravesite and in the collection, there is a map of the river and detail of the listing of his brother’s death in a War Graves Commission publication.
‘‘The loss of his brother in Italy was obviously devastating. Again, we were lucky that we could find materials in the collection that could emphasize that aspect, as well as relate that it kick-started his own artistic reaction with his Sangro River series,’’ Kerr says.
‘‘The highlight had to be finding his hand-written lesson plan on how to draw trees, which he must have delivered to art students. It was a real find.’’
They also highlight Hotere’s collaborative nature, such as the book covers he did for Hone Tuwhare, Bob Orr and Ted Middleton.
There are also two large napkins on display, on which Hotere had written various phrases. To ensure they were not lost, McFarlane embroidered the text on them.
‘‘They are excellent samples of collaborative textuality between two artists,’’ Kerr says.
The collection also includes an ‘‘eclectic array’’ of records such as Miles Davis’ The Birth of Cool, J.S Bach, John Lee Hooker and Vivaldi.
As Hotere was a keen chess player, there are several books on the subject. He also played golf for much of his life, so the collection includes ripped-up golf cards used as bookmarks, rule books and a complete golf card registering his scores and handicap.
Hotere also enjoyed cooking, hence the collection including his mussel pot, wine guides and cookbooks by Alison Holst, one of which includes loosely inserted recipes for lamb’s fry, lamb’s liver and mushrooms and Queen scallops.
He often travelled overseas and visited galleries and museums, picking up catalogues and guide-books along the way.
Deans, who has a love of politics, looked closely at the ephemera and books relating to Hotere’s political leanings. Hotere had travelled to Cuba in 1966 and in his library were two copies of Guevara’s Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, the first paperback edition published by Monthly Review Press in 1968 (on display) and the first Pelican paperback published in 1969.
‘‘I'm obviously fascinated by Cuba, and there's a little story there about being taken to Cuba to try and just dissuade these socialist artists from their socialist beliefs, so that was quite funny.’’
For Kerr, one of the highlights of the exhibition is a photograph of Guevera playing golf.
‘‘It seemed to match Ralph Hotere’s love for the game and his feeling towards Che, who was at the time — still is? — an iconic figure.’’
Anti-nuclear politics feature in Hotere’s work, and among the collection is Gil Hanly’s book of photos, Peace is More Than the Absence of War. There is also material from the anti-Springbok tour protests of 1981, and an environmental report on the aluminium smelter proposed for Aramoana.
The process of reading the biography and sifting through the collection left Deans wishing he had known Hotere personally.
Roughan agrees. She lived in Port Chalmers when he was also living there and had a friend living in Hotere’s studio at Observation Point but never met him.
‘‘I really regret that now. I'd love to have met him, knowing what a colourful and personable person he was, even though he could come across as a grump, you know, and especially if he was asked about his art.’’
Learning about Hotere’s humble beginnings — coming from a working-class Catholic family — was one of the many interesting things she discovered about him.
Kerr, meanwhile, met Hotere in 2005 when he initiated a reprinting of his PINE sequence with Bill Manhire through the University of Otago printer in residence programme. Hotere came in and rolled a few of the PINE images printer Brenda O’Brien had created.
‘‘It was great fun.’’
Roughan concentrated on Hotere as an artist, beginning with his trip to England in the 1960s when he was first exposed to an international art scene.
A display case is dedicated to his main influences and another to his collaborators, such as Tuwhare, Bill Culbert and Russell Moses.
‘‘He was involved with, and was friends with, so many other artists from all over the country, so we're showing how that showed up in his work,’’ Roughan says.
Also included in the exhibition is a black wing chair that Hotere liked to sit in after suffering a debilitating stroke in 2001. McFarlane loaned it for the exhibition thinking people might like to sit in it.
Screenprinted on the chair are the words ‘‘I want to be where you are’’.
— Named the Hone Papita Raukura (Ralph) Hotere Collection, it is now fully catalogued and accessible through the reading room, third floor, Heritage Collections.
