Picturing Progress in Paradise: New Zealand on Display at International Exhibitions, 1873 - 1886

Abstract

This thesis examines the representation of New Zealand at international exhibitions from 1873 to 1886, with a focus on the fine arts, ethnographic artefacts and the art of display. The exhibitions considered at length are Vienna International Exposition in 1873, the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879-80, the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880-81 and the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. The objects exhibited at these ephemeral events, as well as the planning and arrangement of the courts, are considered in light of both aesthetic and ideological factors. For the image of New Zealand presented by these facets of the exhibitions reflect and embody social, political and cultural trends. During the period considered in this study, New Zealand's participation in international exhibitions grew, the courts became increasingly thematic in their approach and were more clearly informed by particular ideological stances, namely imperialism and progress. In line with nineteenth-century museological practices, the exhibitions allowed the organisers to artificially organise objects to create meanings that supported specific ideological vantagepoints and fostered a new and collective identity. The international exhibitions were therefore a site at which many of the norms for future nationalist representation were established. These include an emphasis on all that was held to be singular and unique to New Zealand: Maori and their culture and the natural wonders of the landscape. Maori were enlisted both as a distinguishing feature of the New Zealand courts and as a device of contrast, against which colonists and their activities might be perceived as dominant and superior. There was an increased focus on the arts during this period, which functioned to illustrate two themes of New Zealand, as a land of paradise and of progress.