Ten x Ten: Art at Te Papa

What a marvellous idea. Just ahead of a gallery revamp some enlightened souls at Te Papa – are there any other kind? – have come up with the perfect way to celebrate the collection and tickle our fancies. Ten of the gallery’s curators have each picked 10 of their favourite works from the national collection. Each chosen work, handsomely photographed, receives a full page of informative, surprisingly personal commentary from its sponsor (none of your technical artspeak here). Simple enough, but the beauty of the idea arises from spreading the load over 10 very different aesthetic filters, representing 10 different curatorial specialities (including photography and the decorative arts). The result is a gloriously diverse, sometimes even eccentric, selection that shows off the obscure and unexpected on an equal footing with the acclaimed and iconic. Superbly produced and presented in a smart crimson cover, this one will be read and read again. Jan Chilwell is an Auckland writer whites. Those of us who crave something more solid with our spun sugar, however, might find our admiration taking on a slightly querulous tone. Where’s the information? Writer Jane Webster, who packed up a husband and four kids to move from suburban Melbourne to an abandoned 19th century chateau in rural Normandy, provides chatty introductions to each chapter. But it’s odd that many of the delights dwelt on in the text go unphotographed, while many of the photographs go uncaptioned. While it wouldn’t be fair to call the text and the photographs estranged, there are certainly times when they seem to have stopped talking to each other. Quel dommage! Jane Hurley is a Wairarapa writer