The major art award provided by the New Zealand Government has been the National Art Gallery Travelling Scholarship, awarded annually to an art student between 21 and 30, who had shown exceptional ability and promise. The award, valued at £500 per annum, entitled the winner to three years' study overseas, the normal period for a complete course at one of the senior institutions; in suitable cases it could be extended to a fourth year. Formerly, a liaison was maintained with the Association of New Zealand Art Societies to coordinate the scholarship with the fellowship awarded by the Association, but this scholarship has been discontinued by the recently appointed Arts Advisory Council. The followingawards and grants, 1951–62, have been made: 1951 Paul Olds, Royal College of Art (painting); 1953 Thomas Coomber, Slade School, London (painting); 1955 Michael C. Browne, Royal College of Art (painting); 1957 John Drawbridge, L.C.C. Central School (engraving); William Culbert, Royal College of Art (painting); 1960 Ian McG. Mackintosh, Slade School (painting).
Grants from the fund were made also to Guy Ngan (Royal College of Art 1952–56 sculpture); Alfred Drury (1951–53 painting); and to Barrie Bates, Royal College of Art (1959–62 industrial design).
Since 1947 the New Zealand Government has provided funds for annual fellowships, valued at £500 per annum, awarded by the Association of New Zealand Art Societies. The fellowship could be granted for either one or two years to a practising artist or craftsman to enable him to undertake an approved project or course of study, either in New Zealand or overseas. Fellowship awards were discontinued as from 1961 on the advice of the Arts Advisory Council.
The following awards have been made:
| 1947 | C. P. Murray |
| 1948 | W. R. Allen |
| 1949 | Miss M. Thompson |
| 1950 | Miss S. Woolcott |
| 1951 | M. Annabell |
| 1952 | E. Mervyn Taylor |
| 1953 | J. R. Cowan |
| 1954 | Mrs N. M. Parker |
| 1954 | E. Lee-Johnson |
| 1955 | E. Lee-Johnson |
| 1955 | L. R. Castle |
| 1956 | Miss N. Manchester |
| 1956 | L. R. Castle |
| 1957 | P. Stitchbury |
| 1957 | P. Martin Hill |
| 1958 | Miss R. Angus |
| 1958 | M. T. Woollaston |
| 1959 | Miss S. Skerman |
| 1960 | M. T. Woollaston |
| 1960 | D. C. Peebles |
| 1961 | R. Hotere. |
Apart from these Government grants, a number of art competitions have been sponsored by private individuals or business concerns. The generous prizes offered have attracted enormous entries and lively public interest, but their benefit to artists diminishes with repetition and the multiplication of competitions. Each competition tends to attract a distinct type of work and the prizes are apt to circulate round a limited number of artists who excel in the particular mode favoured. One of the most valuable and best known is the Kelliher Art Prize awarded by H. J. Kelliher for the best landscape in oils of a typical New Zealand landscape which must be “a realistic or natural representation”. This award has been administered annually since 1956 by the New Zealand Fellowship of Artists. The first competition was conducted in the Auckland City Art Gallery and subsequent ones in the gallery of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. After the 1961 competition, Kelliher announced that a Trust would be established to administer future awards.
Awards have been made as follows:
1956, prize (£500), Leonard C. Mitchell; Judges–Mrs A. Pearse (Dunedin), E. Buckmaster (Australia), and P. Tomory (Auckland).
1957, first prize £500, Arthur C. Hipwell; second, Douglas Badcock; third, Peter McIntyre; Judges–Robert Johnson (Australia), S. B. Maclennan (Wellington).
1958, first, Leonard C. Mitchell; second, George Packwood; Judge–Napier Waller (Australia).
1959, first, Peter McIntyre;second, Douglas Badcock; third, Paul Olds; Judge–William Dargie (Australia).
1960, first, Owen R. Lee; second, David J. Barker; third, Peter McIntyre; Judge–Rubery Bennett (Australia).
1961, first, Cedric Savage; second, Don Neilson; third, Peter McIntyre. Junior prize (£100), David Barker; Judge–William Dargie (Australia).
1962, first, Austen A. Deans; second, Emerson Porter; third, Douglas Badcock. Junior prize, Derek Ball and John Fijn (equal). Judge–Douglass Pratt (Australia).
1963, first, Austen A. Deans; second. Peggy Spicer; third. Peter Mclntyre. Junior prize, J. P. Horner. Judge–John Loxton (Australia).
1964, no competition.
In 1958 the National Bank of New Zealand sponsored a competition for a design for a mural to be executed for one of the Bank's branch offices. This was won by Thomas A. Coomber; Judges–C. R. H. Taylor, R. C. Muston, S. B. Maclennan.
A second competition in 1960 included, with the mural award (increased to £500), a prize for a watercolour of a New Zealand landscape. Mural, Leonard C. Mitchell; watercolour, first, Peter McIntyre; second, David Barker; third, Austen A. Deans; Judges–F. V. Ellis, Nugent Welch, R. C. Muston.
Winners in the third competition, 1962, were, Mural, David Barker; watercolour, first, S. B. Maclennan; second, Robin Kay; third, Cyril Whiteoak; Judges–James Turkington, H. V. Miller, E. Mervyn Taylor, and R. C. Muston.
Winners in the fourth competition, 1963, were, Mural, Susan Chaytor; Watercolour, first, S. B. Maclennan;second Juliet Peter; third, W.M. Barraud. Judges–Vernon Brown, R. C. Muston, E. Mervyn Taylor and Colin V. Wheeler.
Winners for 1964 Competition were, Mural, Colin Wheeler, merit awards (£25) to Celina Ballantyne, David Barker, Mavis Cullen, Susan Chaytor; watercolour (£100 prize), Avis Higgs; second, Peter McIntyre; third, Colin Wheeler. Judges–R. C. Muston. A. A. Deans, S.B. Maclennan.
For 1965 the prize for the Mural Section stands at £500, and the judges may make up three special awards to the total value of £150. In the Watercolour Section the prizes have been increased to £200 (£100) first prize, £100 (£60) second prize, and £50 (£40) third prize. Winners for 1965 Competition were, Mural, Rodger Harrison; watercolour, first, Eric Lee-Johnson, second, Peter McIntyre, third, George Packwood. Judges–R. C. Muston, H. V. Miller, and S. B. Maclennan.
The Hay's Art Competition, 1960, offered three prizes (£300, 150, and 50) for the best paintings submitted. The prizes were donated by Hay's Ltd. of Christchurch. The judges, Messrs Russell Clark (q. v.). Peter Tomory, and John Simpson bracketed the winners, and equal awards were made to Colin McCahon, Julian Royds, and Francis L. Jones.
Main prizes in the second Hay's Art Competition, 1962, were, oil painting, first (£250), Peter McIntyre; second (£100), Joan Macarthur; watercolour, first (£100), Stewart Maclennan; second (£50), Astrid Stevens; sculpture (£50), Innes L. Elliott; Sir Daryl Lindsay, Australia, was the sole judge.
In 1963 first prize (oils), T. A. Field; second, Mary Darwin. First in watercolours was P. F. Noonan, with C. V. Wheeler second. The judge was G. Thomson, Australia. No competition was held in 1964.
In September 1964, Sir Henry Kelliher, as chairman of directors of the Dawson Printing Co. Ltd., announced a watercolour competition sponsored by his company. Prizes of £200 (first) and 50 (second) were offered for the best watercolours submitted, depicting a subject of the artist's choice relative to New Zealand and not painted in an abstract manner. The competition is planned to be held in Auckland in April 1965. The judge or judges were not named in the original announcement.
In 1959 the South Canterbury Art Society offered prizes for oil and watercolour paintings which were won by Sheila Jenkins, £100 (oil painting); Eric Lee-Johnson, £75 (watercolour); the judge was W. A. Sutton, of Christchurch.
In 1959 art prizes were awarded in connection with the Hawke's Bay Centennial Celebrations. H. R. Holt donated prizes of £250 and 75 for the best oil painting and watercolour respectively. These were won by Juliet Peter (oil) and Eric Lee-Johnson (watercolour); the judges were J. Burnell and S. B. Maclennan.
by Stewart Bell Maclennan, A.R.C.A.(LOND.), Director, National Art Gallery, Wellington.