Hocken Collections Te Uare Taoka o Hākena: Art and photography

The Hocken Collections include a significant collection of art and photographs.

See the Art History Sources at the Hocken Collections research guide for details of our holdings.

The Art Collection has more than 18,000 artworks relating to New Zealand and the Pacific, dating from 18th-century voyagers through to contemporary artists. This is a magnificent resource for the study of New Zealand art history and provides abundant research material for the history and culture of New Zealand. Artists with works in the collection include:

• Ralph Hotere
• Frances Hodgkins
• Sir William Fox
• Colin McCahon

Dr Hocken's original collection of pictures represents illustrative material intended for use by geographers, ethnologists, and natural scientists. Significant additions to the collection include artwork amassed by Charles Brasch, Mona Edgar, and Rodney Kennedy.

The Photography Collection includes well over a million historic images from all over New Zealand, the Pacific, early Australia, and Antarctica, but with a focus on Otago.

Formats range from daguerreotypes, prints, albums, postcards, panoramas, 35mm slides to lantern slides, glass and film negatives, and digital files. Historic photographers represented in the collection include:

• The Burton Brothers
• John Kinder
• George Chance
• Muir & Moodie

While the policy in recent times has been for collecting documentary photography (as opposed to art photography housed with the paintings), contemporary photographers spanning the divide include:

• Gary Blackman
• Nigel Yates
• Di Ffrench
• Adrienne Martyn

Please note that photographs are also held in the archives collection at the Hocken Collections. See the section Archives for details on this material.

For information on referencing photographs and art, see the relevant sections in this Libguide under 'Referencing Hocken sources'.

The Hocken Gallery hosts a regular programme of exhibitions showcasing collections, artwork by Frances Hodgkins Fellows, and travelling exhibits.

The gallery is open to all visitors – see the Hocken website for hours.

Hocken Digital Collections has thousands of digitised images from across the Hocken's collections, and still includes material from our original Recollect site Hocken Snapshop. These Snapshop images are of a lower quality and have more minimal metadata than the newly available material, but are slowly being replaced with higher quality images.

You are welcome to use any of the images on this site for your:

• personal study
• unpublished research
• classroom and distance teaching
• review and criticism

You are also welcome to use any images that are out of copyright in:

• social media (share)
• blogs
• non-commercial websites (e.g., sites of local history groups and not-for-profit organisations)
• digital slide presentations (e.g., PowerPoint)

Further to this, you are welcome to use most of the out of copyright images made available on this site for any purpose including publication, without getting a high resolution image or permission from Hocken Collections.

Please check the Conditions of Use and Copying information, which displays as part of each object's metadata, for details relating to other usage and for use of still in copyright material.

Sydney Parkinson ca. 1745-1771 and Gabriel Smith 1724-1783, "Knightia excelsa (Proteaceae), Banks Florilegium," Part 26, Plate 540, Edition 10/100, 1980-1989 after 1769, 2012/16/139. Art Collection, Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena, University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ.

Shane Cotton Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Hine, Te Uri Taniwha 1964-, Back Words, 2011, 2011/79. Art Collection, Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena, University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ.

E.A. Phillips, Yvette Williams training for long jump, St Clair, c. 1948-53. P1968-001/4-003. Photography Collection, Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena, University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ.

Search for art on Hākena using the simple search or advanced search options.

• Search by keyword, title, creator, place, or subject.
• Use the advanced search for targeted queries of specific fields.
• Identify search results as belonging to the art collection by this icon .
• Some search results may display a thumbnail image of the item instead of the icon above, e.g., . Click on 'Save To Gallery' to see a larger version of the image.
• Material is described as individual items.
• Refine results on Hākena to the pictures collection once you have made a search.
• Limit searches to the pictures collection using the advanced search options.
• The Hākena Search Help Guide contains helpful tips and assistance for using Hākena.
• To find further information about an artist, such as their iwi affiliation, click on the 'more information' link on the Hākena record next to the artist's name.

Please talk to desk staff if you cannot locate art relating to your inquiry or email the Curator of Art.

Search for photographs on Hākena using the simple search or advanced search options.

• Search by keyword, title, creator, place, or subject.
• Use the advanced search for targeted queries of specific fields.
• Identify search results as belonging to the photography collection by this icon .
• Some search results may display a thumbnail image of the item instead of the icon above, e.g., . Click on 'Save To Gallery' to see a larger version of the image.
• Material is described as individual items.
• Refine results on Hākena to the photography collection once you have made a search.
• Limit searches to the photography collection using the advanced search options.
• The Hākena Search Help Guide contains helpful tips and assistance for using Hākena.

Please talk to desk staff if you cannot locate photographs relating to your inquiry or email the Curator of Photography.

The art and photography area is open by appointment only; visitors can contact art and photography collections staff if they wish to view items.

Most photographic images, and some art listed on Hākena can be requested and viewed in Hocken's main reading room. For further information and assistance, please contact Hocken staff to discuss viewing art and photographs.