Blast from the Past

Words Melinda Williams

Auckland’s Museum gets a fresh new look, and two contemporary new galleries to go with it.

For most people, visits to the Auckland War Memorial Museum were solemn journeys through the past – shoes clicking loudly on the cool marble floors past the tall walls of names, children whispering excitedly as they peered through the dusty windows of the houses on Centennial St, the glassy eyes of the taxidermied animals and birds in the Natural History section. But later this year, with the completion of the Stage 02 refurbishment of the museum, two new galleries will open that showcase a far more contemporary type of history.

The two permanent spaces, Landmarks and Encounter, will give the museum the chance to display a substantial part of its 21,800-piece collection of design and decorative arts objects. Landmarks, the international gallery, will feature pieces both famous and obscure from the 1600s to the present day. Beautiful wooden pieces such as an English walnut jewel cabinet from the late 17th century give way to modern bentwood chairs by Thonet; a sack-back court dress from the mid-1700s measures up next to pieces by Coco Chanel from the mid-1900s. The collection includes numerous notable design items, including Art Nouveau and Bauhaus pieces, right through to the now near-ubiquitous Mies van der Rohe Barcelona Chair, Robert Graves’ famous tea set for Alessi and Maarten Baas’ Clay Dining Chair, released only this year at the Milan Salone del Mobile.

The New Zealand gallery, Encounter, will showcase around 1100 of the museum’s 7000 pieces of local design and decorative arts, making it the most comprehensive collection in the country. New Zealand furniture designer Humphrey Ikin collaborated closely with the museum in the development of this gallery, while Chris van Ryn of Freestyle Design worked to articulate and render the ideas into images and plans. The collection traces the development of design and decorative arts from huia beak brooches to modern furniture pieces and clothing by Zambesi. MW