RAY CHING

RAY CHING

Dawn Chorus

2 - 27 May 2015 www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

milford galleries queenstown

9A Earl Street (03) 442 6896 qtown@milfordgalleries.co.nz

News Travelled Quickly (34-35) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 560 x 660 x 12 mm

1

Kokako, He’s Here! He’s Here! (36-37) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 510 x 660 x 20 mm

2

Swallow, He’s Here! He’s Here! (40-41) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 560 x 660 x 12 mm

3

Skylark Over Rueben Avenue (50-51) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 560 x 660 x 20 mm

4

Birds of Curious Description (117) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 558 x 658 x 20 mm

5

Whio in a Hurry (134-135) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 560 x 658 x 20 mm

6

Gulls Inland (140-141) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 560 x 662 x 12 mm

7

Are We There Yet? (150-151) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 505 x 1140 x 12 mm

8

Cheet, te-te-te-te-te-te- (152-153) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 560 x 933 x 12 mm

9

Uninvited Arrivals (154-155) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 505 x 1142 x 12 mm

10

Young Eyes (157) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 563 x 663 x 20 mm

11

You Should’ve Thought of That (166-167) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 594 x 960 x 20 mm

12

Saddleback Announcement (175) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 563 x 663 x 20 mm

13

Ko Tenei te Manuwhiri! Nau Mai! (176-177) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 512 x 662 x 20 mm

14

Rhymes for the Children (178-179) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 520 x 603 x 20 mm

15

A Choir of Bellbirds (182-183) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 580 x 960 x 12 mm

16

A Young Wahine Keeps Order (184-185) (2014) alkyd acrylic on board, frame: 610 x 961 x 12 mm

17

Widely considered one of the foremost wildlife painters of the twentieth century, Ray Ching began an exploration of the classic Aesopian fables, retold and transplanted to the Antipodes in the acclaimed series of forty-seven original oil paintings entitled Aesop’s Kiwi Fables.

In Dawn Chorus he extends this, proposing that (after his death) Aesop, the Fabled Teller of Fables, may have travelled (accompanied by an albatross) to New Zealand, where, upon arrival he was greeted by the all the birds of the land and honoured with a great concert, the Dawn Chorus.

The Dawn Chorus is thus an antipodean fantasy where Ching’s commanding photorealist depictions of birds incorporating text and the spiritual presence of Aesop combine to become startling in achievement, masterful and wondrous.

EXHIBITION PRICELIST 1

News Travelled Quickly (34-35) (2014)

5,800

2

Kokako, He's Here! He's Here! (36-37) (2014)

5,600

3

Swallow, He's Here! He's Here! (40-41) (2014)

5,650

4

Skylark Over Rueben Avenue (50-51) (2014)

5,650

5

Birds of Curious Description (117) (2014)

5,600

6

Whio in a Hurry (134-135) (2014)

5,800

7

Gulls Inland (140-141) (2014)

5,800

8

Are We There Yet? (150-151) (2014)

6,200

9

Cheet, te-te-te-te-te-te- (152-153) (2014)

6,200

10

Uninvited Arrivals (154-155) (2014)

6,200

11

Young Eyes (157) (2014)

5,600

12

You Should've Thought of That (166-167) (2014)

6,200

13

Saddleback Announcement (175) (2014)

5,600

14

Ko Tenei te Manuwhiri! Nau Mai! (176-177) (2014)

5,800

15

Rhymes for the Children (178-179) (2014)

5,300

16

A Choir of Bellbirds (182-183) (2014)

6,200

17

A Young Wahine Keeps Order (184-185) (2014)

6,150

All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition

RAY CHING b. 1939, lives United Kingdom

Ray Ching: Kokako, He's Here! He's Here! (36-37) (2014)

Considered by many to be one of the best wildlife painters of the twentieth century, Raymond Harris Ching’s career as an artist started with his first exhibition ‘Thirty Birds’ in Auckland in 1966. Discovered by publisher and ornithologist Sir William Collins who introduced him to British wildlife painter Sir Peter Scott, Ching soon left for the United Kingdom and in one year produced over 200 individual paintings for the Reader’s Digest Book of British Birds, published in 1969. This has gone on to become the world’s most successful and biggest-selling ornithological book and remains in print today.

Following from this success, Ching continued to paint mostly avian subjects and produced meticulous watercolours that combine a scientist’s exacting detail with an artist’s movement, energy and life.

Ching paints with layer upon layer of almost transparent paint, moving from watercolours to oils in the early 1980s. Working from life observations as well as stuffed birds (he is believed to have a collection of over 7000) (1); each feather, beak and talon is exquisitely rendered on gessoed masonite or canvas.

Ching’s more recent works take these photorealist depictions of birds and other creatures and place them in a setting that defies the very realism for which he is known. Incorporating text, both printed and handwritten, printed comic strips, floating human figures, these paintings contain a multiplicity of stories that require patience and close attention to decode.

He has also revisited Aesop’s fables, creating New Zealand versions of the morality stories. Images of a monkey riding a dolphin (Pelorus Jack & the Monkey) or hedgehogs sharing pizza (The City Hedgehog and the Country Hedgehog) are fabulous in the original sense of the word - ‘fable-like’ - and the combination of these real creatures in unreal settings creates a sense of tension and unease in the works. These are fables for adults, not bedtime stories for children.

Born 1939 in Wellington, Ray Ching has spent much of his life in the United Kingdom where, still working, he is mostly based today. His paintings are held in numerous private and public collections, such as the National Museum of Wildlife Art in the USA, and portraits from his exhibition A True Story are held in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

1. Geraldine Norman, ‘Art Market / Portraits of a Modern Landseer’, The Independent, Sunday 11 July 1993

Ray Ching 2015 CV P a g e |1

milford galleries queenstown

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

RAY CHING b. 1939, lives United Kingdom SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2015 2014 2013 2012 2010 2008 2007 2005 2004 2002 2000 1998

1997 1996 1994

1993 1989 1988 1986 1982 1980 1977 1976 1967 1966

Dawn Chorus, milford galleries queenstown Dawn Chorus, Artis Gallery, Auckland Aesop's Kiwi Fables, Milford Galleries Dunedin Aesop's Kiwi Fables (Part 2), Artis Gallery, Auckland Aesop's Kiwi Fables (Part 1), Artis Gallery, Auckland Autobiography, Artis Gallery, Auckland Ark, Artis Gallery, Auckland Constellation, The Tryon Gallery, London The Last Tree Fell, Artis Gallery, Auckland, Ray Ching: Bird Paintings, Pacific Galleries, LaFayette, California Ray Ching: Measured Drawings, Tinakori Gallery, Wellington; John Leech Gallery, Auckland Ray Ching: Paintings, (A True Story), Tinakori Gallery, Wellington; Jonathan Grant Galleries, Auckland Ray Ching: A True Story, Tryon & Swann Gallery, London Ray Ching: A True Story, Rye Gallery, England Ray Ching: Puzzles & Fragments, 10 Paintings, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa Beds, 8 Paintings by Ray Ching, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa Wildfowl & Gamebirds, Tryon & Swann Gallery, London Ray Harris Ching, Recent Paintings, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa Voice from the Wilderness, paintings and drawings, The Tryon Gallery, London The SAPPI Commission, paintings and drawings, The Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa Southern African Bird Portraits, The SAPPI Collection, Central City Gallery, London, England Recent Paintings & Drawings, The Tryon Gallery, London Paintings & Drawings, Charlotte H. Gallery, Auckland Drawings of New Zealand Birds, Charlotte H. Gallery, Auckland Wild Portraits, Rye Art Gallery, England; The Tryon & Moorland Galleries, London; The Australian Galleries / The Tryon Gallery, Melbourne, Australia The Gilded Triptych & Recent Wildlife Paintings, The Tryon & Moorland Galleries, London Ray Ching: Paintings & Drawings, International Art Centre, Auckland Bird Paintings & Sketches, Tryon & Moorland Galleries, London Paintings, International Art Centre, Auckland Ray Ching: Recent Paintings & Drawings, Rye Gallery, England; International Art Centre, Auckland Drawings, The Falcon Gallery, Auckland Studies of New Zealand Wildlife, John Leech Gallery, Auckland Thirty Birds, John Leech Gallery, Auckland

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2012-23 2012

2009 2007 2006 2004 2003 2000

The Earl Street Journal, milford galleries queenstown Significant Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin The Royal Queenstown Easter Show, milford galleries queenstown The Surreal, Milford Galleries Dunedin On the Nature of Things, Artis Gallery, Auckland Ark, Artis Gallery, Auckland Auckland Art Fair Summer Exhibition, Artis Gallery, Auckland Paintings, Artis Gallery, Auckland Birds in Art 2004, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA 2005 Wildlife Art for a New Century II, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, USA Birds in Art 2003, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA Wildlife Art for a New Century, National Museum of Wildlife, Art Wyoming, USA

Ray Ching 2015 CV P a g e |2

milford galleries queenstown

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

1998 1997

Birds in Art Exhibition, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA Master Artist at Birds in Art, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA Wildlife & Conservation, Halcyon Gallery, Birmingham, England Parrots, Tryon & Swann Gallery, London Miniatures, Holland & Holland Gallery, London Animal Paintings, Brighton Art Galleries & Museum, Sussex, UK Wildlife & Conservation, Halcyon Gallery, Birmingham, England Natural History Paintings & Sculpture, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa Painswick House, Gloucestershire, England Animal Paintings, Brighton Art Galleries & Museum, Sussex, UK Twenty Years in Cork Street, The Tryon Gallery, London Museum Awards, King Gallery, New York, USA From Dusk to Dawn, The Tryon & Moorland Gallery, London Wildlife in Art, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA Birds in Art Exhibition, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA Everard Read / Stremmel Gallery, USA Nature in Art, Society of Wildlife Art for the Nations, England Birds in Art Exhibition, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA Wildlife Art Society of Australasia, Melbourne, Australia Wildlife Artists of the World, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa Collector’s Covey, Dallas, USA Bird Artists of the World, Everard Read Gallery / The Tryon Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa Birds in Art Exhibition, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA Birds in Art Exhibition, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA Society of Animal Artists’ Exhibition, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, USA Tryon & Moorland Artists’ Major Wildlife Exhibition, Tryon Gallery, London Birds in Art Exhibition, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA Society of Animal Artist’s Exhibition, Sportsman’s Edge / Explorer’s Club, New York, USA Birds in Art Exhibition, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA Jubilee Exhibition, The Tryon & Moorland Galleries, London Animal Art, Pieter Wenning Gallery / Tryon Gallery, South Africa Endangered Species, The Tryon Gallery, London Bird Books and Bird Art, The Moorland Gallery, London Bird Artists of the World, The Tryon Gallery, London

1996 1995

1994 1992 1990 1987 1986

1985

1984 1983 1982 1981

1980 1979 1977 1976 1975 1974 1972

SELECTED COLLECTIONS Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA; National Museum of Wildlife Art, USA; Solitaire Lodge, Rotorua, New Zealand; Estate of Daniel M. Galbreath; The Amin Shah Gallery

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1994 1990 1990 1988 1988 1986 1986 1985

Lank, David and Raymond Harris-Ching, Ray Harris-Ching: Voice from the Wilderness, Swan Hill Press, Shrewsbury, England, 1994 Smith, Carol Sinclair. Ray Harris-Ching, Journey of an Artist (Masters of the Wild), Carol Sinclair Smith pub. Briar Patch Press, South Carolina, 1990 Fuller, Errol (ed.). Kiwis, A Monograph of the Apterygidae, SeTo Publishing, Auckland, 1990 Rayfield, Susan. Painting Birds: Techniques of Modern Masters, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1988 Hansard, Peter. Wild Portraits, The Wildlife Art of Ray Harris-Ching, co-pub. SeTo Publishing, Auckland, 1988 co-pub. Airlife Publishing, UK, 1988 Harris-Ching, Raymond. New Zealand Birds, An Artist’s Field-Studies, Reed Methuen, Auckland, 1986 Hammond, Nicholas. Twentieth Century Wildlife Artists, Overlook, New York, 1986 Rayfield, Susan. Wildlife Painting Techniques, Watson-Guptill, New York, 1985

Ray Ching 2015 CV P a g e |3

milford galleries queenstown

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

1981 1981 1978 1969+

Hansard, Peter. The Art of Raymond Ching, Collins, Auckland,1981 Harris-Ching, Raymond. Studies & Sketches of a Bird Painter, Lansdowne, Melbourne,1981 Snow, David, A.H Chisholm and M.F. Soper. Raymond Ching, The Bird Paintings, watercolours and Pencil Drawings 1969-1975, Collins, London,1978 Book of British Birds, The Reader’s Digest, London, 1969, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974 1977, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1992

SELECTED REVIEWS 2008 2007 2005 2005 2005 2004 2004 2000

McNamara, T J, ‘Spanning the Ages of Creation’, The New Zealand Herald, 25 October 2008 Daly Peoples, John, ‘Ray Ching Flies Into Myths’, National Business Review, 5 April 2007 McNamara, T J, ‘Flight, Fall and Death’, The New Zealand Herald, 30 November 2005 Daly Peoples, John, ‘Flying High with Ray Ching’, National Business Review, 2 December 2005 Du Chateau, Carroll, ‘A Remarkable Encounter’, The New Zealand Herald, 3 December 2005 Rees, Darren, ‘Paintings from a Different World’, Birds Illustrated, Winter 2004 Sinclair Smith, Carol, Migration of a Bird Painter, March/April 2004 McNamara, T J, ‘Art: Glazing in the best Old Master technique’, The New Zealand Herald, 20 November 2000

Ray Ching: The Crowing Cockerel the Fox and the Wallaby (2007)

Ray Ching 2015 CV P a g e |4

milford galleries queenstown

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz