Kaleidoscope - Toss Woollaston

Television (Full Length) – 1987 Arts/Culture

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Part one of two from this full length documentary.

Part two of two from this full length documentary.

The credits for this documentary.

TVNZ’s flagship 80s arts show looks at Sir Toss Woollaston — a pioneer of modern art in New Zealand. Topics include his development as an artist and the “struggle of painting” (contra convention), difficult years trying to support a family, the influence of his wife, and the liberation he felt in his mid-50s when he could finally earn a living from painting. Woollaston is blunt but generous with his time and opinions. There are precious riffs off his famous description of wanting to paint the sunlight in a landscape, “after it had been absorbed by the earth”.

Key Cast & Crew

Howard Taylor

Director

Alison Parr

Director, Reporter

Denis Harvey

Producer

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... the mind of a monkey expressing itself through a human.
– An 1936 review of Woollaston's work, indicating the suspicious attitude to modern art at the time

Produced by

TVNZ

Source

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision - TVNZ Collection