Milan Mrkusich, Theme and Counter Theme, 1966. Oil on Canvas. Collection of the Suter Art Gallery, Nelson.
Gift of the ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Wellington 2003.
Milan Mrkusich Education Resource Card
Artist Information
Artist Biography
Mrkusich is a pioneer of New Zealand modernist abstraction. In 1994 he was commissioned to
design windows for Te Papa in Wellington, and created a series of coloured panels, two stories high
running the length of the building, along Cable Street. As an abstract artist, he is not concerned
with portraying real life in his paintings, but is fascinated by colour and composition. He has
famously said ‘
You want a landscape? Take a drive in the country’
.Milan Mrkusich, Woman’
sWeek
l
y
, 1969.
Milan Mrkusich was born in Dargaville in 1925. His family moved to New
Zealand from Yugoslavia after World War I. Mrkusich took a commercial art
course in the early 1940s but is mostly a self-taught artist. In 1949 he set up an
architectural design company, Brenner Associates, with two colleagues, where
he worked until 1958 as a colour consultant. He designed his own modern
home in the 1950s in Auckland where he still lives and paints. In 2003 he was
given an Icon Award by the New Zealand Arts Foundation, for his lifelong
achievement as an artist.
Discussion Questions
1. How many different shapes can you see in this painting? How many different colours
can you see?
2. Which colour is warm and which is cold? What are some other warm or cold colours?
3. Orange and blue are complimentary colours, opposite each other on the colour wheel.
Complimentary colours go well together. Do you know what the other pairs of complimentary
colours are?
4. Can you see different textures and tones in this painting? Which areas look flat and which
areas look textured? Which areas are light toned and which are dark toned?
5. Some abstract art is derived from something in the real world, and some is simply an
arrangement of colours and shapes. Which do you think this is? Why?
Art Activity Ideas
1. Take a closer look at colours around you. Go on a journey around your school making a note
of some colours you pass by. Paint each colour on a square of paper and lay them out along a
line in the sequence you saw them in. Can your classmates guess the journey route?
2. Make an abstract painting of warm and cool colours and smooth and rough textures. Mix a
pallet of warm colours and cool colours. Use a compass and ruler to divide a page into
shapes. Paint each shape with either a warm or cool colour, thinking about what each new
colour will look like next to the previous one. Create different textures in the painted shapes
by using thin or thick paint and sponges or brushes. Which colours go well together?
3. Follow a process of abstraction to make a composition. Take a photo of a local scene and
place tracing paper over it. Trace the outline of some of the main shapes in the picture,
leaving out all details. Transfer the outlines onto paper, then rub out or join up or extend or
change some of the lines, to create an abstract composition of shapes. Can your classmates
still recognise the local place that your abstract composition originated from?
4. Research some other artists who explore aspects of abstraction in their work such as; Piet
Mondrian (b.1872 d.1944), Ellsworth Kelly (b.1923-), Mark Rothko (b.1903 d.1970),
Gretchen Albrecht (b.1943 -), Julian Dashper (b.1960 d.2009) and Stephen Bambury (b.1951
-). Compare these artists to Mrkusich. What do they have in common? What differs about their
work? What aspects of abstraction are they most interested in? (See categories opposite).
Helpful Terms & Resources
Different aspects of Mr
kus
i
c
h’
spractice relate to the following art categories:
Abstract art uses form, colour and line to create a composition. Abstract art
is unconcerned with the literal depiction of things from the visible world.
However it can refer to an image which has been abstracted or distilled from
something in the real world. The process of abstraction or distillation can be
slight, or partial, or complete. Total abstraction bears no trace of anything
recognisable.
Geometric abstraction is a form of abstract art based on the use of
geometric forms.
Abstract expressionism has an emphasis on spontaneous, automatic or
subconscious creation.
Modern art refers to artistic works produced during the period extending
roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s.
Colourfield painting is characterised by large fields of often soft edged, flat,
translucent, or solid colour spread across the canvas.
Minimal art is stripped down to its most fundamental features.
Bauhaus design was an influential current in Modernist architecture and
modern design originating from an arts and crafts school in Germany 1919 –
1933.
Articles: www.art-newzealand.com/issues11to20/mrkusich.htm and
www.art-newzealand.com/issues1to40/abstract.htm
Images: www.hamishmackay.co.nz or www.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz or
www.tepapa.govt.nz
Book: Mrkusich: The Art of Transformation, Alan Wright & Edward Hanfling.
Auckland University Press. 2009.
Education Resource Card written by Helen Lloyd, Educator at City Gallery Wellington, 2010.