Stanley Arthur Palmer (born 1936) is a New Zealand painter and printmaker.

Biography

Palmer was born near

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

in the Coromandel, New Zealand and studied at Dunedin Technical College in the late 1950s. Although he has become well known for his prints, his formative years were spent painting. In 1969 he was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Art Council grant and in 1970 he quit his day job as an art teacher to become a professional printmaker and painter. Palmer lives in

Mount Eden Mount Eden is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand whose name honours George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland. It is south of the Central Business District (CBD). Mt Eden Road winds its way around the side of Mount Eden Domain and continues to weave b ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

. By the late 1970s his printmaking repertoire included

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas tha ...

s, monoprints and bamboo engravings. The scenes he portrays mainly feature New Zealand coasts with themes of colonisation, conservation, humanity and the land. Palmer has had regular and numerous one-man exhibitions at leading galleries in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. His work is represented in the national art collection housed in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and also in most other New Zealand public collections including the

Marlborough District Council Marlborough District Council ( mi, Te Tauihu-o-te-waka) is the unitary local authority for the Marlborough District of New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of tw ...

, Auckland Art Gallery and the

Christchurch Art Gallery The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, commonly known as the Christchurch Art Gallery, is the public art gallery of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It has its own substantial art collection and also presents a programme of New ...

. In the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours, Palmer was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to fine art. Palmer is the author of several books including East which includes 136 of his works including paintings, woodcuts, bamboo engravings and monoprints and To The Harbour which includes monoprints based on his childhood memories of the

Manukau Harbour The Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and opens out into the Tasman Sea. Geography The harbour mouth is between the northern head ("Burne ...

. Palmer travelled to Gallipoli in 2014 and created a number of artworks which were exhibited at Blenheim's Millennium Public Art Gallery in 2016 in an exhibition called 'Shall Be My Brother: Gallipoli Remembered'. Stanley Palmer was surprised to find out that he was named as a donor to the Labour party in 2017 as a result of a donation behind an "over-inflated" art auction. Stanley Palmer said "he was unaware he had been listed as a big party donor, but wasn't concerned by the disclosure".

References

External links

Works by Stanley Palmer in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa TongarewaConversation between Stanley Palmer
and poet Riemke Ensing for th
Cultural Icons
project. Audio.
Image of Stanley Palmer in his studio
Salamander Gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Stanley 1936 births Living people New Zealand printmakers People from Thames, New Zealand Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit