Pumpkin Cottage Collection

Visit the Pumpkin Cottage Interactive App to discover more about the Pumpkin Cottage Collection.

The Pumpkin Cottage Collection is a nationally significant collection of work from the early impressionist movement which was nurtured at the legendary Pumpkin Cottage, Silverstream, Upper Hutt. It features paintings by James Nairn, Mabel Hill, Girolamo Nerli, Frances Hodgkins and Nugent Welch among others.

Local art collectors Ernest and  Shirley Cosgrove gifted 39 Pumpkin Cottage paintings to Expressions Whirinaki Trust for the people of Upper Hutt in 2009 and the works have been in the Centre's safe keeping ever since. These significant Pumpkin Cottage paintings are the City's first permanent art collection which continues to grow thanks to several generous gifts.

History

In 1895, Wellington artist and art teacher, James Nairn, rented Pumpkin Cottage, a rustic dwelling on a Silverstream farm, which soon became a retreat for the modern artists of the day. These artists were exploring Impressionism, the significant art movement, which began in Paris in the 1870s and had spread to Britain, Europe, and Australia by the 1880s. These artists enjoyed a bohemian lifestyle at Pumpkin Cottage - where they explored this exciting 'new' art form. Some of the Pumpkin Cottage artists were James Nairn, Mabel Hill, John Baillie, H.M. Gore, Maurice Crompton-Smith and Mary Tripe (nee Richardson). Impressionists from Christchurch and Dunedin including Alfred Walsh, W.M. Gibb, John Madden, Frances Hodgkins and Girolamo Nerli were also part of the movement.

Significant Art Movement

In the late 18^th Century, New Zealand art students were taught to paint by a set of rules.

The Pumpkin Cottage Impressionists scorned the grand imagery and techniques of the academics, believing the style was clichéd and inauthentic.

Although they were diverse in style and temperament, the Impressionists all valued the originality and freshness achieved from painting quickly and directly from the subject. An indigenous New Zealand style of Impressionism, saturated with colour, was born. 

The radicalism of their art united the Impressionists as they sought camaraderie and mutual support.  Pumpkin Cottage was a meeting place for the artists and their movement. While Nairn died in 1904, aged just 45, a subsequent sell-out memorial exhibition of his work at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts helped build the mystique of Pumpkin Cottage.  Pumpkin Cottage Impressionism was nationally popular for almost half a century after Nairn's death.

If you are interested in gifting or donating a Pumpkin Cottage era artwork to the collection, please get in touch with Chriss McGregor at curator@whirinakiarts.org.nz.

Explore the collection by artist below or use the Pumpkin Cottage Interactive App.