Whakatāne will witness a collection of prizewinning New Zealand landscape paintings from the Kelliher Art Trust collection, when a three-stop gallery tour lands in Te Kōputu in September.

Infinitely Varied - Prizewinning New Zealand Landscape Paintings from the Kelliher Art Competition 1956-1977 is a selection of works from the Kelliher Art Trust collection, which comprises just over 100 paintings, the majority of which are New Zealand landscapes (with some portraits and genre paintings) and have won prizes or awards in the Kelliher Art Competition between 1956 and 1977.

All entries in the annual competition exhibition were for sale to the public and most works in the Trust's collection were purchased at the time by Sir Henry Kelliher, who had established the competition.

Open to New Zealand resident artists, the objective of ‘the Kelliher' was to 'encourage artists to paint the essential character of the New Zealand scene and the ways of life of its people and, thereby, to develop a livelier appreciation of the fine arts and of the infinitely varied aspects of our land".

Works by celebrated New Zealand artists Cedric Savage, Peter McIntyre and Austen Deans will be on display, as well as a special showing of the Trust's only Charles Goldie painting, Portrait of a Māori Chief, 1939.

Goldie is possibly New Zealand's best-known painter, whose reputation was largely established by his striking portraits of Māori from around 1900 to 1939, commissioned and admired by Māori as well as admired and purchased by Pākehā.

The exhibition will open with an informal gallery talk by Christopher Johnstone, Curator of the Kelliher Art Trust, at 11am on Saturday, September 22.

Christopher will address the relevance of the Kelliher Art Competition and landscape painting today, while sharing some his favourite works in the exhibition. Anyone is welcome to attend this event and bookings are not required.

Infinitely Varied runs from September 22 to 28 November in the Main Gallery at Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi – the Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre. www.whakatanemuseum.org.nz