The Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection includes the New Zealand Cartoon Archive and forms part of the Alexander Turnbull Library collections.
More than 100,000 watercolours, drawings, sketchbooks, oil paintings and prints are in the collection. Most feature New Zealand scenes, people and events.
Many pictures relate to early Māori or their way of life, and the earliest days of European contact and settlement. Images also cover the development of early towns and cities, exploration, natural history and science, shipping, and wars.
Highlights include the work of:
- English artists who came to New Zealand and the Pacific with Captain Cook between 1769 and 1779
- French artists visiting between 1824 and 1840
- artists associated with the early colonisation of New Zealand from 1839 to about 1850
- artists who painted incidents in the New Zealand wars
- painters recording changes made by humans to the landscape from the 1840s to about 1900
- natural history artists
- New Zealand cartoonists from the 1880s to the present
- portrait artists.
The collection also features:
- early Australian drawings, prints and images of Antarctica
- some European prints from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries
- prints relating to the work of John Milton
- portraits of well-known New Zealanders from the early 19th century onwards, including some sculptures
- architectural drawings and plan prints for buildings, mostly in the greater Wellington area
- art ephemera like New Zealand exhibition catalogues or clippings of reviews
- three-dimensional objects, such as personal items belonging to Katherine Mansfield, Sumerian clay tablets with cuneiform inscriptions, and writing on papyrus.
More about the New Zealand Cartoon Archive
Planned changes to collection access
Our collections will be relocated while the Library building in Wellington is being redeveloped. During the relocation period, some collections will be available in two temporary locations: Archives New Zealand and a location on Thorndon Quay.
Relocation period availability:
- The original items in this collection will be unavailable.
- Some copies will be available through Turnbull Library Pictures at Thorndon Quay.
- Digitised images are available, and can be ordered.
For more information email atl@natlib.govt.nz
Find out more about planned changes to collection access
Access items in this collection
Search for descriptions of items in the Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection using TAPUHI. Not all items are described online. If you can’t find what you’re looking for ask a librarian.
Digital copies of selected items are on Timeframes, our online database of heritage images.
The Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection is on the second floor of the Library and can be viewed by making an appointment. You can arrange a time to visit by phone or email. We will have material ready for when you arrive (note some architectural plans take half an hour to retrieve).
If you haven’t visited the collection before, Turnbull Library Pictures (TLP) on the ground floor is a good place to start. You can see copies of many pictures there, including cartoons. You can also make an appointment to view the original items if you need to.
More about Turnbull Library Pictures
Get copies from items in this collection
You can order colour or black and white copies of most pictures in the collection if copying doesn’t harm the original or breach copyright. Formats available include digital copies on CD-ROM, inkjet prints, and photocopies.
More about copyright and usage
Get help
We can answer your enquiries in person, by letter, phone or email. We can provide further information about the collections; New Zealand art and artists, cartoons or cartoonists.
| Contact Us | Alexander Turnbull Library collections |
|---|
