Hundertwasser in New Zealand

The Art of Creating Paradise

Andreas J. Hirsch

‘New Zealand is for me a kind of promised land.’

In public art and architecture, the love that Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000) felt for his adopted homeland rings clear.

The Koru Flag that he gifted the country, his Public Toilets that revived the heart of Kawakawa, and now the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangārei testify to the immense place New Zealand had in his heart.

Hundertwasser in New Zealand is a lavishly illustrated new book that tells both the public and personal stories of what drew Hundertwasser to his ‘promised land’.

The opening chapter traces Hundertwasser’s fascination with New Zealand and his arrival in the 1970s

His dreams of New Zealand started early, when his mother would tell him of this land of peace as they hid from the Nazis in Second World War Vienna.

As his artistic reputation grew and his travels expanded, Hundertwasser felt ever more drawn to New Zealand as a place of refuge, where he could paint as well as create his version of paradise, and live a life in harmony with nature.

 

He first arrived in April 1973, mounting a major exhibition and travelling the country. Later he would return on his ship theRegentag (‘Rainy Day’), settling at Kaurinui, the land he bought and restored in the Bay of Islands.

‘Art must form a bridge to nature,’ Hundertwasser observed; he was never nearer to living this peaceful reconciliation with nature than in New Zealand.

Hundertwasser in New Zealand is a richly illustrated and accessible account of the artist’s love of Aotearoa, his interaction with the people and land, and the influence these had on his work.

Planning and realisation of the Koru Flag

 

In superb, lucid prose, eminent curator and writer Andreas J. Hirsch outlines the key stages of the artist’s life and his trajectory in New Zealand — including chapters on his commitment to nature, the Regentag in Aotearoa, and the art, philosophy and architecture he created here.

Featuring a rich assortment of paintings, drawings, sketches, photographs and the artist’s writing, this book is itself an artistic statement that will connect with readers of all kinds and help enshrine Hundertwasser as a New Zealand icon.

Whangārei’s Hundertwasser Art Centre features prominently in the book’s latter pages

 

The Author

Andreas J. Hirsch is a writer, curator and photographic artist who lives in Vienna, Austria. He has a long involvement with the art of  Hundertwasser. Andreas was curator of the KunstHausWien (Hundertwasser Museum) in Vienna from 2009 to 2014; in 2011 he edited the book Hundertwasser — The Art of the Green Path and curated the exhibition of the same title for the museum. He has created exhibitions about artists and photographers including Henri Cartier-Bresson and Linda McCartney; among his other writings are books on Picasso, HR Giger, Beethoven, and the history of Vienna. 

Publication Date: 16 August 2022 |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004214-0 |  RRP $70

Deluxe hardback, 260 x 190 mm portrait, 240 pages colour