Milan Mrkusich, modernist master

This week we had the pleasure of attending the opening of an exhibition accompanying an auction of works (by online art dealers Ocula Black) from the collection of the great New Zealand modernist artist, Milan Mrkusich. 

This isn't an auction of works from the secondary market, but paintings from Milan Mrkusich's own collection that have been selected for auction by his son, Lewis Mrkusich. Lewis has chosen five pairs of works, each pair combining a painting from early in his father's career with a more recent work. 

The image below shows, at left on the end wall, 'Chromatic Primary Suite', completed in 1992, paired with (at right on end wall) 'Triptych: Homage to Rodchenko), painted in 1966. The pairings of all the works show the remarkable consistency of Mrkusich's exploration of geometry and colour throughout his career.

This image (below) shows 'Meta Grey Light Series No. 1' (1970) at left, and 'Meta Grey, Yellow' (1998) at right. 

Here (below), Milan Mrkusich's 'Progression II' (1985-92) is shown at left alongside 'Untitled I' (2002).

At the opening, a couple of people wondered if Milan Mrkusich was still alive, as they hadn't seen any new works from him in some time. We can happily report that he is in his 80s and, although he now needs to use a walker to help him move around, he is very much alive, although he stopped painting some years ago. He didn't attend the opening but visited the gallery earlier in the day to see the works. Lewis said his father was delighted to see the paintings, and intrigued by the way they were grouped. 

In the image below, Milan Mrkusich's 'Dark Painting II' (1971) hangs at left beside 'Achromatic with Cobalt Blue' (1991).

Not everyone knows that Mrkusich, who was born in Dargaville in 1925, began his career as a designer at the Auckland firm of Brenner Associates. He worked on a number of architectural projects and also designed the Auckland home that he still lives in, a modernist marvel that is still in terrific condition (but he is reticent about having it photographed).

Wellingtonians will also know his work from the mural of colour blocks on the Cable Street facade of Te Papa, commissioned as the museum was undergoing construction. And, of course, his paintings are in major public and private collections all over the country.

Ocula Black's online auction of these wonderful works continues until next Tuesday, November 26. Even if you aren't going to bid on them, we recommend you take the opportunity to visit Ocula Black's Auckland gallery space (at 25 Sale Street) to see the paintings - or see more of them at the Ocula Black link at the top of this page.

Our new book: great New Zealand modernist homes

We're so pleased with our new book, Modern: New Zealand Homes from 1938 to 1977, which we've created in conjunction with the kind folks at Random House publishers. It'll be in bookstores from November 1, but we wanted to tell you a bit about it here before it comes out. 

The book's jacket features a photograph by Patrick Reynolds of a home designed by Reginald Uren in Raumati in the mid-1960s. When you get your copy, you'll see the jacket (like the rest of the book, designed by our friends at Inhouse) folds out to reveal a bigger view of the house.

Under the jacket lies this foxy linen cover with embossed lettering. Yum. 

The book, which has 350 pages between its gorgeous covers, is a compliation of features of our favourite mid-century homes from the magazine in the last decade or so, with the addition of some that have been newly photographed for the book. The shot below is of a spread from the book featuring the Donner House, designed by Auckland's City Architect, Tibor Donner. It was photographed by Mark Smith and styled by Katie Lockhart.

There are 24 homes in the book, modernist gems from Auckland, Hamilton, Thames, Whanganui, Hawke's Bay, Raumati, Wellington, Christchurch, Hokitika, Dunedin and Alexandra. All of them show mid-century New Zealand as a place of great sophistication and inventiveness. Most of the homes are still in marvellously good condition, as liveable today as they were when they were first completed - including Wellington's Halberstam House (below), designed by Henry Kulka and still occupied by Lucie Halberstam, the daughter of the original owners. This photo is by Paul McCredie. 

The book also features homes designed by, among others, Ernst Plischke, Bill Alington, Robin Simpson, Vladimir Cacala, John Scott, Ivan Juriss, Ted McCoy, Jon Craig, and Sir Miles Warren, whose magnificent Selby (below, photographed by Paul McCredie) near Havelock North features along with a home Sir Miles designed in Dunedin that has been shot especially for the book.

We're including the shot below just to make it clear that this isn't just a picture book. In fact, it includes the work of some of the country's best architectural writers from HOME's family of contributors, including Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, Julia Gatley, Linda Tyler, Adrienne Rewi, Lara Strongman, Andrew Barrie, Bill McKay, Michael Findlay, Alistair Luke and Claire McCall. 

There are also plans of almost every house, and helpful biographies of the architects involved. 

One of the many nice things about the book is the way it traces modernism's development in New Zealand from textbook flat-roofed homes to later experiments in combining European modernism with this country's cottage vernacular, where homes such as Jon Craig's near Wellington (below, photographed by Paul McCredie) combined pitched roofs with open-plan living rooms. 

We're pleased to be able to offer the book for the special price of $70 (RRP is $75) including postage, from www.magshop.co.nz/modern. You can pre-order your copy there now. We really hope you enjoy it.