Drawings and paintings in the collections include:
- oil paintings and acrylics
- watercolours and gouache paintings
- drawings in ink, pencil, crayon and chalk
- sketchbooks and albums.
Prints in the collections include:
- art prints such as engravings, etchings, lithographs, chromolithographs, woodcuts and screen prints
- machine-made prints such as off-set prints, photolithographs, reproductions and blueprints
- photocopies, laser prints and inkjet prints
- digital copies.
Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection
Original paintings, drawings and prints of New Zealand and the Pacific, from 1642 to the present, are mostly found in the Drawings, Paintings, and Prints collection. Search for descriptions of items using TAPUHI.
More about the Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection
New Zealand Cartoon Archive
Original and printed copies of New Zealand cartoons and caricatures are held in the New Zealand Cartoon Archive. Search for descriptions of cartoons using TAPUHI.
More about the New Zealand Cartoon Archive
Digital copies of drawings, paintings, prints and cartoons
Digital copies of selected paintings, drawings and prints (including cartoons) can be found on the Library’s online database of heritage images, Timeframes.
Turnbull Library Pictures
Copies of many original drawings, paintings, prints and cartoons can be browsed in Turnbull Library Pictures on the ground floor of the National Library.
More about Turnbull Library Pictures
Drawings and watercolours in the Manuscripts Collection
You’ll find original drawings and watercolours in the Manuscripts Collection, such as illustrated journals. Search for descriptions of manuscript items using TAPUHI.
More about the Manuscripts CollectionHistorical prints in the Special Printed Collections
The Special Printed Collections contain rare books and fine printed material, including 16th, 17th and 18th century prints, and more recent items. Some items are described on the National Library Catalogue.
More about the Special Printed Collections
Illustrations in photograph albums and maps
Some photograph albums in the Photographic Archive include illuminations or hand-painted/hand-drawn illustrations. Search for descriptions of photograph albums using TAPUHI.
Printed and manuscript maps can also include illustrations. These are found in the Cartographic Collection.
More about the Photographic Archive collection
More about the Cartographic Collection
Prints in illustrated books and magazines
There are 19th and 20th century prints in illustrated books and magazines, as well as later mechanical reproductions. You can find illustrated books and magazines in the collections listed below.
More about the New Zealand and Pacific Book Collection
More about the New Zealand Serials Collection
More about the General Lending Collection
More about the General Serials Collection
More about the Dorothy Neal White Collection
More about the National Children’s Collection
National Newspaper Collection
Items in the Turnbull Library newspaper collections contain published cartoons and caricatures, wood engravings and lithographs, as well as mechanical reproductions. Search for descriptions of newspapers and periodicals using the National Library Catalogue.
More about the National Newspaper Collection
Drawings, prints, paintings and cartoons in other institutions
Several other New Zealand libraries, art galleries and museums collect paintings, drawings, prints and cartoons. Search for digital copies of paintings, drawings, prints and cartoons online using the Matapihi website.
Some Australian collections also contain New Zealand material. You can access many of these on the Picture Australia website.
