Within Aotearoa New Zealand’s art history, the 1930s saw the emergence of what has been described as a distinctly ‘New Zealand style’ of painting. From this period through to the 1970s, terms ranging from real, raw, hard-edged, clear, austere, rugged, eroded and stark, came to define artistic interpretations of the regional landscape, and specifically, the presence of a particular light that was unique to Aotearoa.

This idea of a specific and intense quality of ‘Aotearoa light’ steadfastly anchored itself within the canon of mid-20th century landscape painting. A debated area within the national discourse, some writers, including Hamish Keith and Gordon H. Brown, believed this was crucial in understanding Aotearoa painting. Others, such as art historian Francis Pound, positioned this hard-edged style or the ‘regional real’ as a myth that saw nature used as an alibi for style.

Considering this moment in art history, In brilliant light brings together a group of works from the Dunedin Public Art Gallery collection that focus on the Central Otago landscape. Produced between 1930 and 1971 by artists including Rita Angus, W. H. Allen, Olivia Spencer Bower, Doris Lusk and Shona McFarlane, among others, these paintings explore artists’ experiences of and responses to the region in the mid-20th century. A symbol of rural life, isolation and unique, and unpopulated landscapes, the Central Otago region had a strong presence in Aotearoa regionalism, through works that were underpinned by a focus on place and local identity.