Background
Ralph Hotere was born on August 11, 1931 in Mitimiti, Northland, New Zealand. His family had fifteen children.
103 College Rd, Northcote, Auckland 0627, New Zealand
Hato Petera College
19 Riego St, North Dunedin, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
Dunedin School of Art
Central School of Art and Design
103 College Rd, Northcote, Auckland 0627, New Zealand
Hato Petera College
19 Riego St, North Dunedin, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
Dunedin School of Art
Central School of Art and Design
Ralph Hotere was born on August 11, 1931 in Mitimiti, Northland, New Zealand. His family had fifteen children.
Since 1946 to 1949, Ralph Hotere studied at Hato Petera College in Auckland, New Zealand. Some time later, he attended Auckland Teachers' Training College (present-day New Zealand College of Education), where he was trained by James Douglas Charlton Edgar.
In 1952, the artist left for Dunedin, where he studied at Dunedin School of Art, part of King Edward Technical College.
Later, he enrolled at Central School of Art and Design in London.
Also, during the period from 1962 to 1964, the artist studied in France and travelled around Europe.
In 1994, he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Otago.
Hotere’s first exhibition in Europe was held at the Galerie Chandor, Tourrettes-sur-Loup, near Venice, in 1962. Back in England, his solo exhibition at the Middlesborough Municipal Art Gallery in Yorkshire in March 1964 was well reviewed in London’s Guardian newspaper.
Returning to New Zealand in 1965, Hotere focused even more on his artistic career. Before settling down in Dunedin permanently in 1969, Ralph had two important solo exhibitions in Auckland: Sangro Paintings and Human Rights (1965) and Black Paintings (1968). During the same period, he began to introduce literary elements to his work, publishing four drawings in Landfall 78 and designing the cover for Landfall 84.
From the 1970s onward, Hotere was noted for his use of unusual tools and materials in creating his work, notably the use of power tools on corrugated iron and steel within the context of two-dimensional art.
For much of his life Ralph Hotere lived in Port Chalmers, Dunedin. His work was slowed by a stroke in 2001, but he continued to create and exhibit regularly until his death in February 2013.
Ralph Hotere gained prominence mostly for his Black Paintings. His other famous works are "Black Phoenix", "Jerusalem, Jerusalem", "This might be a double cross jack".
Hotere's works are represented in every major public and private collection in New Zealand and in art museums throughout the world.
In 2003, the artist received the Icon Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand. In 2012, he was awarded the Order of New Zealand.
Tukua Mai He Kaponga Oneone Ki Au Hai Tangi (Send me a Handful of Soil)
Port Chalmers XII
Woman
Red on black
Working Drawing For Music Faculty, Auckland University
Hang in there Mate
Drawing for Ian Wedde - Pathway to the Sea
Song Cycle
Black Painting
Black Window
Kei Muri I Te Awe Kapara (Shadowed Behind the Tattooed Face)
Vive Aramoana
Black Painting, Indigo Violet VI
Polaris
Biko
Towards Aramoana (Drawing For A Black Window)
Dawn/Water poem III (after Manhire)
Song Cycle
The Seasons, Part I and II
Avignon Painting
Black Cerulean
Untitled
White Drip
Jerusalem, Jerusalem
This Might Be A Double Cross Jack
Quotations: "There are very few things I can say about my work that are better than saying nothing."
Hotere was married three times. He married his second wife Cilla McQueen, an artist and poet, in 1974. The couple divorced in 1986. In February 2002, Ralph married Mary McFarlane, also an artist.
Ralph had a daughter, Andrea Hotere.
