Ten Big Paintings

[1] In May 1969, in anticipation of the opening of the new Edmiston Wing[2] at the Auckland Art Gallery, Hamish Keith and the staff developed the concept for an exhibition of large paintings on canvas.

[5] Keith had been impressed by Colin McCahon painting the large-scale Northland Panels on his return from a visit to the United States in 1958.

[7] This then was the size selected for the five part stretcher mounted canvases that were sent out to the artists and, as the gallery director Gill Docking noted in the catalogue introduction, ‘Each painter was left with complete autonomy over their work but was given a chance to do something which, under normal circumstances, could be uneconomic.’[8] The exhibition was opened at the Auckland Art Gallery by Princess Alexandra on the 9 February[9] and ran to 28 March after which it toured to Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Unlike the other painters Eaton turned the four units of the large canvas on their sides to create an elongated landscape 5 x 40 feet (1.5 x 12.2 meters) Robert Ellis Journey.

Art critic T. J. McNamara said of Ritchie's work that it, ‘…dances lines around the canvas in glowing colours and happy areas of paint advance and recede in a delightful fashion.

The picture goes a long way toward fulfilling the promise Ross Ritchie has shown in recent years.’[21] Wong Sing Tai Dedicated to Amoghasiddhi.

When the exhibition showed at the National Art Gallery in Wellington (now Te Papa Tongarewa) the photographer Ans Westra took a number of images of the works including the painting by Wong Sing Tai.

Prior to the exhibition, the biggest painting on canvas or board in New Zealand was almost certainly Colin McCahon's Practical Religion, at just under 17 square metres.