The Boat Shed

Michael Smither

Circa 1966

Oil on hardboard

Striated like a piano keyboard, this pattern of reflections of light and shade through the walls of the boat shed in Pukekura Park are a study in line and proportion which show the artist navigating away from his signature realism towards abstraction.  The ostensible subject was occasioned by the artist’s residence in The Gable’s, New Plymouth’s historical colonial hospital, situated in Pukekura Park.  Dubbed “The Wonder Years” in 2006 by Auckland Art Gallery curator Ron Brownson for his survey of Smither’s work from the New Plymouth period (1964-1970), the period spent living in the park was characterised by enormous productivity.

The University of Auckland Art Collection