Exhibition showcases renowned New Zealand painter

A new Gallery exhibition showcases one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s foremost modernist painters renowned for his street scenes and portraits.

Raymond McIntyre: A Modernist View is open at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū until 15 March 2026.

Raymond McIntyre Suzette c. 1914. Oil on wood panel. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, presented by Mary Good, London, 1975.

The exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of his work in more than 30 years. It presents around 40 works, highlighting the breadth of his practice, including his remarkable portraits of modern young women, landscapes, streetscapes and rare woodcut prints. 

“Born in Ōtautahi Christchurch in 1879, McIntyre’s experimental and impressionistic approach to painting set him apart from other local artists. He was a free spirit and didn’t fit into the established traditional art scene at the time. One critic even labelled his work an ‘abomination,’” says curator Peter Vangioni.

In 1909 McIntyre travelled to London to try his luck in one of the world’s leading art centres. He achieved considerable success and exhibited alongside leading contemporary British artists of the day including Christopher Nevinson, Walter Sickert and Paul Nash of the London Group. 

Raymond McIntyre Self Portrait 1915. Oil on wood panel. Collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, gift of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, 1941

“McIntyre never returned to Aotearoa, and this exhibition is the first opportunity for local audiences to see his work since a retrospective in 1985.

“Most of the works are small in size, but visitors to the exhibition will find that their modest scale belies a striking modernity, with bold colours and progressive techniques on display.

“Whatever the subject or medium, his work carries an energy, looseness and spontaneity that resonates powerfully on gallery walls a century later,” Vangioni says. 

A broad range of works are on display, tracing McIntyre’s career from its early years in Christchurch through his time in England.

“McIntyre’s most successful paintings remain his pared back portraits of fashionable modern women painted between 1912 and 1914. These stylised visions of elegant women demonstrate the harmony and balance he achieved in his portraiture,” Vangioni says. 

The exhibition draws on public and private collections throughout New Zealand and offers a rare opportunity to see works that have not been on public display for many years. It includes a stunning new addition to the Gallery’s permanent collection, which has recently been repatriated.

“Putting this show together was a chance to reflect on our collection of McIntyre’s work and consider how we build on it. He is Christchurch’s most famous expatriate painter, and we were lucky to acquire the delightful streetscape Street in Saint Valery-sur-Somme from 1913 to enrich our existing collection,” Vangioni says.

Raymond McIntyre: A Modernist View will be on display until 15 March 2026.

Image: Raymond McIntyre Street in Saint-Valery-sur-Somme c. 1913. Oil on panel. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased with assistance from the Barbara Anne Ford bequest, 2025.