BeckerFraserPhotos May 2011 photograph 0007
Images, UC QuakeStudies
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Bookshop boarded up says 'Bookshop reopening soon'".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Bookshop boarded up says 'Bookshop reopening soon'".
Caleb Middendorf tries out the penny farthing bicycle in one of the reopened galleries of the Canterbury Museum.
Apart from the cordon fences just visible in the background, this view of the recently-reopened Victoria Square seems unchanged by the earthquakes.
A sign on the door of a shop reading, "I have been reclosed again by the Council due to buckled retaining wall in basement. My landlord is getting wall braced for all our safety. I hope to reopen in 2/3 weeks. I will try and keep you informed by note on shop glass. Ross".
This exhibition, eight years in the planning, had the misfortune to open one week before the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake; the exhibition was immediately taken down and never went up again – the Christchurch Art Gallery has still not reopened. Although in my book Fantastica: The World of Leo Bensemann (NRO1) I covered the whole of Bensemann’s career, in the exhibition I took responsibility for the paintings (portraits and landscapes) , while Dr. Noel Waite (University of Otago) looked after Bensemann’s graphic work, book design and printing. This was the most extensive exhibition of Bensemann’s work ever mounted and together with Fantastica will compel a major reassessment of his place in New Zealand culture. Art New Zealand wrote of it: ‘The exhibition (including more than 100 items) is significant in bringing together what has in the past appeared disparate and unrelated; here Bensemann's entire oeuvre - the output of a painter, illustrator, calligrapher, typographer, designer and publisher is given equal billing. Although this exhibition is an important re-assessment and valuable for a new generation unfamiliar with his work, a national touring show would have precipitated an even greater awareness’.