| Melvin Day CNZM | |
|---|---|
| Director of the National Art Gallery | |
| In office 1968–1978 |
|
| Preceded by | Stewart Bell Maclennan |
| Succeeded by | Luit Bieringa |
| Government Art Historian | |
| In office 1978–1984 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 June 1923 Hamilton, New Zealand |
Melvin "Pat" Day, CNZM (born 30 June 1923) is a New Zealand artist and art historian.
Day was born in Hamilton, New Zealand. At the age of eleven, Day began Saturday morning classes at Elam School of Art, University of Auckland, under the tuteleage of Archie Fisher, John Weeks, Lois White and Ida Eise. In 1939, he went on to study as a full-time student at Elam, graduating with a Preliminary diploma in fine arts two years later. Apart from a brief period at Auckland Teachers’ Training College, Day spent the remaining war years in the New Zealand Army and then the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Due to his drafting abilities he worked on topographical and landscape views of the Matakana area and Mototapu Islands.
He married Oroya McAuley in 1952 and lived and worked at that time in Rotorua. After a few years teaching and painting in the Rotorua area, Day arrived in Wellington in 1954 and took up studies towards a Bachelor of Arts at Victoria University of Wellington while teaching at Hutt Intermediate School. From the late 1950s onwards, he exhibited widely in New Zealand and his work was included in the 1961 Commonwealth Art Today exhibition at the Commonwealth Institute, London. In 1963 Day enrolled at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, under the direction of art historian Professor Anthony Blunt. At the Courtauld Institute, Day developed a fascination for the geometric precision in the paintings of Italian Renaissance artist, Paolo Uccello and began what were to become the celebrated modernist adaptations of his Uccello series.
In 1964 he participated in Young Commonwealth Painters at Whitechapel Gallery, London, which also included other New Zealand painters Ralph Hotere, Edward "Ted" Bullmore, and Gordon Browne. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours, he taught at schools of art in London before returning to New Zealand in 1968.
He was appointed the Director of the National Art Gallery of New Zealand (now the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa) in 1968, while there making purchases of paintings by Colin McCahon, Don Binney and Gordon Walters, before the primacy of their work was established. In 1978 he was appointed Government Art Historian. During his time as Director, Day continued painting prolifically and two retrospective exhibitions were held: at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 1970 and at the Dowse Art Gallery, Lower Hutt, the following year.
Since that time, Melvin Day’s paintings have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions. A major survey exhibition, Melvin Day;– Full Circle was shown at the Wellington City Art Gallery in 1984.
In 1990, Day was encouraged by the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Trust to paint Donald McIntyre.
Melvin Day is considered a scholarly painter. His work engages with various periods of western art history, exploring philosophical as well as formal concerns. In a 1984 review, Ian Wedde described Day’s Uccello series as incorporating
In 2003, Day was awarded the CNZM for his services to the arts.
In 2004 the major survey exhibition Melvin Day - "Continuum" was held at City Gallery, Wellington, prior to travelling to Rotorua Museum of Art & History, Rotorua. This was followed in 2005 by "Tracing Tasman", which was the inaugural exhibition of the redeveloped Nelson Provincial Museum.
During 2007 Melvin Day collaborated with Mexican writer Frédéric-Yves Jeannet and completed a series of work based on Stabat Mater. In 2008 the works were shown at Millennium Art Gallery, in Blenheim.
Melvin Days works are found in many national and international public and private collections including Te Papa Tongarewa, The New Dowse, Rotorua Museum of Art & History, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, State Services Commission, Dunedin Public Art Gallery and Auckland Art Gallery.