Temporary

04 June 2011

Photography Exhibition at Auckland Central City Library

Visiting Auckland before the end of July? If so, be sure to visit the latest Sir George Grey Special Collections exhibition 'Q - Tornquist & the Quoin Club'.

From the Auckland Council site:

'Q - Tornquist and the Quoin Club' is an exhibition celebrating the photography of Bert and Fred Tornquist, and Bert's associations with the Auckland art workers' collective, The Quoin Club.

New Zealand-born Bert and Fred Tornquist opened the Tornquist Portrait Studio in Queen Street in 1924.

Bert had no formal photographic training, but had studied at Elam School of Art in Auckland before the First World War.

His brother Fred took a course in photography at the Bissell College of Photo Engraving in Effingham, Illinois, in 1918 and 1919, and worked in several studios in the U.S. before returning to New Zealand in the early 1920s.

The Tornquist Portrait Studio flourished, the brothers combining Fred's photographic expertise with Bert's artistic talent to produce sensitive and powerful portraits of Auckland citizens and visiting international celebrities, such as the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, the Italian soprano Toti Dal Monte, and the playwright and author George Bernard Shaw.

Visitors to the exhibition can see a range of Tornquist portraits selected from over 800 of their negatives recovered by library staff from a demolition site in Queen Street in 1970, together with artworks and jewellery created by members of the Quoin Club and loaned by the Auckland Art Gallery and the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

When Until 31 July 2011, Monday-Friday, 9.00am-5.00pm, Saturday and Sunday, 10.00am-4.00pm

Where Sir George Grey Special Collections, Level 2, Central City Library, Lorne Street

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