Wednesday 18 February 2009
Sarah Eades
I recently received this email:
You have a painting of a railway bridge over a river.
Accession No: 1983/23/7
Title: Te Aroha with the Piako River and
Railway Bridge.
The painting does show the railway bridge at Te
Aroha (town and mountain to the east/left). The railway bridge shows the three
concrete piers andits swing span at the east/town end. The other piers are
wooden.
But the river would be the Waihou River I think. The Piako River is
crossed at Morrinsville, well away from the range.
Here is the work:
I sent the email onto our registrars, who let me know that as the work is by an unknown artist the title comes from an inscription on the album that the print was in.
It's unclear whether it was the photographer or a later collector of the print who labelled it as the Piako River. However we will note the error in the title at the next opportunity on the website, but also keep a note of the inscription which is written beside the print.
Thanks to the sender of the email for letting us know this detail, we always appreciate some feedback.
20 Feb 09
update :
Trevor Cobeldick was the kind person who notified us of this error. He has also added that extra information regarding this unique bridge is available here:
Serial article.
The Te Aroha Railway Bridge, J A T Terry, p124-126
The New Zealand Railway Observer, n188, Summer 1986/87.
image credit currently:
Unknown, Te Aroha with the Pikao River and Railway Bridge, An album of photographs assembled by the Reverend Dr. John Kinder albumen on paper Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, purchased 1983