Open daily, 10am-4pm

42-44 Devonport Road, Tauranga

Mission Impossible: The Art of Arthur Dagley 

It was a life-long dream of local artist Arthur Dagley to have a public art gallery in his home town of Tauranga. It’s ironic that nine years after his death, a retrospective of his works is exhibited in Tauranga’s newly opened gallery.

Dagley lived and worked in Tauranga his entire life, however his lack of a national profile and loyalty to the town in which he was born resulted in him being overlooked in the country’s art history. As one art writer noted “Dagley has been called the most underrated painter in New Zealand”.

 

Apart from his landscapes, seascapes, portraits and figurative narratives, Dagley was inspired by the burgeoning expansion of Tauranga’s port. Many of his works featured the harbour bridge, freighters, glimpses of ships coming into port, even an old barge washed up on Sulphur Point where he overlaid bolts to emulate its three-dimensional nature, bringing the barge off the canvas and into the viewers space; the early stages of mixed media.

Dagley was a prolific artist whose style was forever developing and changing. During his full-time painting career of three decades, Dagley exhibited in approximately 50 solo exhibitions and numerous group shows, and was a 1968 Benson & Hedges Art Award finalist and recipient of the National Bank Art Award in 1973.

Dagley's work is held in several collections including the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

Catalogues and gift cards are available.

Sponsored by TECT (Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust)

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