Pumpkin Cottage impressionists exhibition opening at Museum

Bohemians of the Brush: Pumpkin Cottage Impressionists tells the little-known story of how James Nairn united modern artists in the 1890s and helped redefine New Zealand painting.

It also brings alive New Zealand's most famous artists' retreat, the legendary Pumpkin Cottage, near Silverstream, Wellington.

Curated by art historian Jane Vial the exhibition presents thirty plein-air and impressionist paintings drawn from public, private and Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre’s collection.

Artists include James Nairn, Mabel Hill, John Baillie, George Butler, Mary Elizabeth Tripe, Frances Hodgkins, Girolamo Nerli, Fred Sedgwick, Edward Fristrom and Nugent Welch. Their bright and painterly images of intimate and honest moments in time also capture the characteristic colours of the New Zealand landscape.

Although Pumpkin Cottage was demolished in 1980, contemporary quotes, poetry, photographs and music are used to illustrate the bohemian life of these artists who rebelled against the insincerity of romantic landscape imagery and moved towards impressionism.

The Pumpkin Cottage paintings were donated in 2009 to the Expressions Trust, Upper Hutt, by Ernest and Shirley Cosgrove, who collected the works over a period of 30 years.

"I recognised the Pumpkin Cottage painters as a group that did groundbreaking work that changed the face of New Zealand art," says Ernest Cosgrove. "They weren’t being attended to and I didn’t want them lost."

The exhibition is on display at Rotorua Museum until 6 February.

Entry to the exhibition is included with admission, which is free for Rotorua residents with proof of residency.