William Hammond (29 August 1947 – 30 January 2021) was a New Zealand artist who was part of the post-colonial Gothic movement at the end of the 1990s. He lived and worked in Lyttelton. The theme of his works centred around the environment and social justice.

Early life

Hammond was born in Christchurch on 29 August 1947. He attended Burnside High School. He went on to study at the Ilam School of Fine Arts of the University of Canterbury from 1966 until 1969. Before embarking on his career in art, he worked in a sign factory, made wooden toys, and was a jewellery designer. He also had a keen interest in music, serving as the percussionist for a jug band His first solo exhibition was at the Brooke Gifford Gallery in Christchurch in 1982. In March 1987 he showed for the first time at the Peter McLeavey Gallery in Wellington, an exhibition followed by over 20 others. This was in reference to Walter Lawry Buller, the first New Zealander ornithologist who wrote A History of New Zealand Bird s in 1873. Another noted piece of his was Fall of Icarus (1995), which explores the effects of the colonisation on the country,

In 1994, Hammond was the joint Premier Award winners with Luise Fong for the Visa Gold Art Award, the largest art prize in New Zealand at the time.

Themes

The overarching theme of Hammond's work was social and environmental issues. Specifically, it touched on the imperiled state of both, The characters in Hammond's paintings, which were often anthropomorphic animals, rarely move away from their natural habitat and are in no hurry. He was labelled as one of the country's "most influential contemporary painters" by Radio New Zealand.

  • Christchurch Art Gallery
  • Fletcher Trust Collection
  • Museum of New Zealand
  • Sarjeant Gallery
  • University of Auckland Art Collection
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

References

  • NZ Artists online gallery and biography