Colin Wheeler – McKenzie Country Homestead, oil

Colin Wheeler is one of New Zealand’s most published artists with eight books illustrating his work. They include: Historic Sheep Stations of New Zealand (1968), Historic Sheep Stations of the South Island and Historic Sheep Stations of the North Island, all published by A H and A W Reid. Other books include Kingdom of the Hills – 1930s’ Canterbury, Mackenzie Roundup – More of Our Favourites and Blue Cliffs by A E Woodhouse .

Wheeler was a contemporary of Peter McIntyre and both artists recorded New Zealand’s rural and urban landscapes, producing visual testimony of the New Zealand that they thought would disappear and be lost to New Zealanders of the future.

Colin Wheeler was born in Dunedin in 1919 and was trained at the Canterbury School of Arts. In 1996, Wheeler was honoured with a major retrospective, An Otago Odyssey – Six Decades.