Gretchen Albrecht

Gretchen Albrecht (born 7 May 1943) is a New Zealand painter and sculptor.

Early life and education Albrecht was born in Onehunga in 1943, the daughter of Reuben John and Joyce Winifred Fairburn (née Grainger) Albrecht. She attended Mount Roskill Grammar School and the University of Auckland Elam School of Fine Arts, graduating in 1963 with an honours degree in painting.

Career

Art school and early work Albrecht's early work, during art school and the years immediately following, was figurative: 'the protagonist always a woman, and the woman was often nude'. Albrecht's work in the 1960s was also more autobiographical than any later painting.

1980s and onwards: mature style In 1980, after a year spent travelling in Europe and the United States, Albrecht produced works that directly referenced European painters and the history of art rather than her surroundings, with titles such as After Piero, Giotto's Blue and Lunette (for Fra Angelico).

For a 1985 solo project at Auckland City Art Gallery, Albrecht made four works referring to the seasons. In an interview with art historian Anne Kirker noted that she conceived the exhibition as 'taking a room with four rooms and putting one work on each of them. So you're in an environment, moving from the door to around the room, looking at the work and out the same door again.'

Albrecht received grants from the QE II Arts foundation in 1976, 1978 and 1986, and travelled and worked extensively in the United States. In 1981, Albrecht was awarded the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship at the University of Otago. Today, Albrecht splits her time between Auckland and London.

Major exhibitions

1964 Contemporary New Zealand Painting, Auckland City Art Gallery 1965 New Zealand Painting 1965, Auckland City Art Gallery 1969 10 Years of New Zealand Painting, Auckland City Art Gallery 1975 New Zealand's Women Painters, Auckland City Art Gallery 1982 Seven Painters/The Eighties, Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui 1985 Artist in Focus, Dowse Art Gallery, Lower Hutt 1985 Seasonal, artist project at Auckland City Art Gallery 1986 AFTERnature: Gretchen Albrecht: A Survey – 23 Years], Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui; National Art Gallery Wellington 1991 Cross-Currents, Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton 1991 Signature of Place, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth 1992 Distance Looks Our Way – 10 Artists from New Zealand, EXPO (@ Seville; toured to Leiden, Madrid, Zamora, BArcelona, Auckland Art Gallery, City Gallery Wellington, Manawatu Art Gallery 1998 Dream Collectors, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 1998 Leap of Faith, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth 1999 Crossing the divide: a painter makes prints, Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui 2001 Prospect 2001, City Gallery Wellington 2002 Gretchen Albrecht: Illuminations, Auckland Art Gallery 2005–2006 Gretchen Albrecht: Returning, Dunedin Public Art Gallery and City Gallery Wellington 2011 Gretchen Albrecht & Eve Armstrong, Making Arrangements, Michal Lett, Auckland 2012 Gretchen Albrecht: A Luminous Shade, Tauranga Art Gallery 2015 Colloquy, Two Rooms, Auckland 2016 Gretchen Albrecht: On Copper, Two Rooms, Auckland 2018 I come out of surgery looking golden, Two Rooms, Auckland

Major publications

James Ross (ed), AFTERnature: Gretchen Albrecht: A Survey – 23 Years, Wanganui: Sarjeant Gallery, 1986 Linda Gill, Gretchen Albrecht, Auckland: Random Century New Zealand, 1991 Ron Brownson (ed),Gretchen Albrecht: Illuminations, Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery and Godwit Press, 2002 Michelle Leggott and Gretchen Albrecht, Journey to Portugal, Auckland: Holloway Press, 2006 James Ross and Gretchen Albrecht, Gretchen Albrecht: between paint and nature: five decades, Arrowtown: Nadene Milne Gallery, 2009 Edward Hanfling and James Ross, Gretchen Albrecht: A luminous shade, Auckland: Globe Editions, 2012

Awards and recognitions Albrecht was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to painting, in the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours.

In 2007 Albrecht received a donation from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Award for Patronage recipient Jenny Gibbs.

Collections Albrecht's work is held in all major New Zealand public gallery collections, including the Auckland Art Gallery, the University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington, Sarjeant Gallery, Waikato Museum, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.