Over a 50-year period, John Drawbridge created over 200 limited edition mezzotints, etchings, drypoints and lithographs. Fe29 currently has over 50 of these prints, dating from 1959-2005 and including a number of signed prints and several artist and printer’s proofs. While we still have several signed prints, the estate has advised that these are the last available. All unsigned prints are provided with certificates of authenticity provided by the estate. The gallery also has Drawbridge Oil Paintings Watercolours and Pastels, Drawings and an early Mixed Media work utilising Perspex and lights.
JOHN DRAWBRIDGE Born: Wellington, 27th December 1930. Died: Wellington, 24th July 2005.
“John Drawbridge was not just a wonderful artist, he was a creative being who transcended into this world for a brief moment in time. He created a body of work that will be admired by the generations that follow him in the pursuit of creative and artistic expression.” Tony Drawbridge, June 2008, page 11, John Drawbridge.
John was a brilliant and diverse visual artist. He began his career as a textile designer, and in a career spanning over fifty years he created a challenging, exciting and varied body of work. Oil and watercolour painter, printmaker, muralist and stained glass artist, he possessed the mind and soul of an artist and the hands of a craftsman.
One of New Zealand’s leading and most accomplished artists, he was awarded an MBE in 1978. John’s work is held in some of the world’s most celebrated collections, amongst them the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and in New Zealand in institutions such as Te Papa Tongarewa (Museum of New Zealand), the Auckland City Art Gallery and the Christchurch Public Art Gallery.
His public works in New Zealand include the 40m long Beehive mural in the Banquet Hall, Parliament; the Expo ‘70 mural for Osaka, Japan; the New Zealand House, London, mural; and the stained glass windows, including the Stations of the Cross in the Home of Compassion Chapel, Island Bay, Wellington.
Over a 50-year period he created over 200 limited edition mezzotints, etchings, drypoints and lithographs. In total, 47 of these works are represented in this exhibition, including a number of signed prints and several artist and printer’s proofs.