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Imag-ining the nation: Illustration and identity in the New Zealand School Journal

Helen Moore
Abstract: 

This year the New Zealand School Journal has celebrated its 100th birthday. In this time it has
provided a rich mix of text and image created for New Zealand children by many talented artists
and writers. This article traces the relationship of the illustrations to emergent themes of “New
Zealandness”.

Journal issue: 

Imag-ining the nation:

Illustration and identity in the New Zealand School Journal

Helen Moore

Setting the scene

This year, the New Zealand School Journal celebrates its 100th birthday. A book, A Nest of Singing Birds—100 years of the New Zealand School Journal (O’Brien, 2007), and a recent exhibition of the same name at the National Library Gallery in Wellington have celebrated a rich heritage of text and image created for New Zealand children, and highlighted the ongoing contributions of many New Zealand writers and artists to this publication. The long life of the School Journal enables us to see what has been considered suitable and relevant material for New Zealand children to encounter at particular moments in and over time.

In this article, I outline the scope of my research (Moore, 2002), which focused on illustration in the School Journal and its relationship to emergent themes of New Zealandness. I trace the shift in the 1930s towards a greater focus on New Zealand material written and illustrated by New Zealanders and consider the imagery of the February 1940 School Journal which featured a photograph of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition on its cover. I then share a small selection of post-war illustrations by artists such as Mervyn Taylor, Juliet Peter, Rita Angus, and Joan Smith whose work created a recognisably New Zealand visual world to which New Zealand children could relate. Finally I consider the role of the revised New Zealand Curriculum, released in November 2007, in relation to the current reframing of identity.

Why investigate imagery in the New Zealand School Journal?

Many past studies about New Zealand curriculum materials, including the School Journal, have addressed the text. As both a designer and educator, I wanted to explore the visual imagery in the School Journal, and consider how children’s texts have a history of pedagogical intent as teaching and learning tools. The search for identity has been an ongoing documented theme within New Zealand culture. While the role of art in New Zealand has been written about and discussed in relation to constructing identity, this has been less so for illustration. Imagery for children and the role of illustrator have often been marginalised in art history writing, although the now burgeoning field of children’s literature studies has contributed to a revaluing and reassessing of these aspects. I was interested in the ways in which New Zealand-generated material in the School Journal related to developments in the curriculum and artists’ wider practice, and particularly to the possible visual construction of a sense of national identity for New Zealand students.

In a cross-disciplinary study, I investigated School Journal illustrations from two post-1945 periods using a range of visual methodologies. Conversations with artists, educators, and editors helped to contextualise the material. Broad themes were identified which related to possible ways in which “New Zealandness” was being made visible for children in a variety of material and through the work of a range of artists.

Anderson’s notion (1991) of “imagined community”— the process of which is assisted and brought into being by modes of representation such as writing and artwork—was identified as a potentially useful one for my research. The knowledge that the School Journal was being distributed widely to all schools, including native schools, suggested an imagined audience somehow made homogeneous through virtue of being students in New Zealand schools. Similarly, official curricula may be conceptualised in relation to New Zealand students as a group. This idea of imagined community also related to the new sense of nationhood being articulated before and following World War II, both in the New Zealand educational context and more widely.

The “New Zealandness” project

According to Abbiss (1998), during the 1930s and 1940s, principles of education emerged in New Zealand seeking equality in education which could lead to a sense of social fairness in the future. McGee (1997) sets the context for this gradual creation of an “educated democracy” within the system of “rolling revision” in school curricula which proceeded from the 1940s to the 1980s. The formation of the School Publication Branch in 1939, under the umbrella of the Department of Education, implicated the School Journal in a wider reframing of education in New Zealand.

Until the early 1930s, one-third of School Journal space was devoted to imperial military and patriotic matters (McGeorge, 1993). In a later historical overview of the School Publications Branch, the UNESCO report (Wells, 1957, p. 10) drew attention to the 1937 Textbook Committee’s report which had recommended that textbooks consider children’s natural interests and present New Zealand as “more important and more worthwhile than anything else”. By 1939, a study entitled Social Attitudes in the New Zealand School Journal concluded that “there is a welcome tendency in the very recent journals to include material that is based on New Zealand experience and written by New Zealanders” (Jenkins, 1939, p. 20).

Assistant-Director of Education Clarence Beeby later articulated his belief that a “vigorous programme of school publications was more than desirable; it was central to the whole of educational reform” (Wells, 1957, pp. 5–6). The UNESCO report also noted that a new sense of nationhood would underpin education reform, and texts were required which related to the child’s immediate world.

After World War II, the School Journal was being published regularly in four parts and by 1944 the Department of Education had appointed an art editor and illustrator at School Publications. Illustrator Juliet Peter recalled that School Publications editor Pat Hattaway “was very much involved in making the children recognise their own places and to be conscious of their own place and time … when ‘Janet and John’ were introduced in the school, she was furious because she said it had nothing to do with our own country, nothing to do with children, it was an import” (personal communication, September 1997). By 1951, Beaglehole’s review of the School Journal in The Arts Year Book 7 admired the attempt to:

Provide reading material for children who inherit New Zealand as well as western civilisation and it aims at making them feel that life in New Zealand can be a worthwhile and interesting experience, that New Zealanders are doing fascinating and important things here and now that can be best written about and drawn by New Zealanders. (Beaglehole 1951, p. 25)

Making an exhibition of ourselves

How were the visual images in the School Journal telling stories of New Zealand identity during the war period and beyond? The 1940 Centennial Exhibition cover images, in particular, provide a useful reference point and context for exploring visual identity in the illustrations of the School Journal. The Centennial Exhibition (1939–40) signalled 100 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and has since been identified as a “moment” in which New Zealand marked a new sense of nationhood.

By examining the rhetoric in speeches and writing surrounding the Centennial Exhibition, I identified some broad themes which became focal points for investigating ways in which “New Zealandness” might be made visible in the School Journal illustrations. The sample of illustrations shared in this article touch on two aspects of the key theme of establishing place—representing the indigenous aspects of the land through reference to flora and fauna, and Māori visual culture. These were identified at the Centennial Exhibition as defining aspects of the nation’s distinctive and unique culture, alongside continued expressions of New Zealand as “a brighter Britain of the South” (Palethorpe, 1940, p. 54).

In February 1940, the covers for the School Journal (see Figure 1) displayed photographic images of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition Buildings at Rongotai, Wellington.

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These photographs on the School Journal covers included such aspects of the exhibition site as the “Central Tower”, “Māori Statuary”, the “Reflecting Pool”, and the “Fountain-Bowl”—and they appeared under the title at a time when the paper covers usually consisted of images reproduced from hand-drawn black and white illustrations. The prominence of these images suggests that the Centennial Exhibition was considered not only a local and current event but also a significant one for young New Zealanders, even as the British-style illustrations and stories continued inside the journal issues.

Describing the architecture at the exhibition site at the time, Palethorpe (1940, p. 47) declared: “Every visitor to the Exhibition was impressed with the architectural beauty and symmetry of the buildings which were all perfectly knit together. Viewed en masse they were a great creative effort and their beauty will live in the minds of thousands of New Zealanders.” The desire for this sense of harmony at the physical level could be read as symbolic of the intention he described to “present a clear, unified and comprehensive picture of a century of modern progress and civilisation” (Palethorpe, 1940, p. 57).

Children from around New Zealand were encouraged to visit the Centennial Exhibition and it was advocated that “parents in particular should do their utmost to ensure that their children have every opportunity of seeing the exhibits” (Palethorpe, 1940, p. 96). The New Zealand Education Gazette (1940, June, p. 96) recorded that the experience was made “available to the greatest possible number of children … in all, between ten and eleven thousand visited the Centennial Exhibition under this admirable scheme”. It would seem that the appearance of the Centennial Exhibition images in the School Journal was a reflection of a wider promotion and acknowledgement of the event in unifying the lives of the nation’s children as well as the wider population.

It’s only natural

In the School Journal illustrations, indigenous flora and fauna would have a strong role to play in communicating visually the uniqueness of New Zealandness to students through illustrations from a range of artists. Beginning in February 1945, Mervyn Taylor’s New Zealand bird series on the School Journal’s covers (see Figure 2) followed on from those using Māori motifs on the headers, and in some instances also referenced customary Māori art forms. Mervyn Taylor had stated that he had made “a conscious decision to remain in New Zealand and was resolutely committed to producing solely indigenous subject matter” (Mackle, 1988, p. 72). His imagery, including tailpieces and decorative elements, would also be more widely reproduced in publications such as Te Ao Hou, Education, and The Listener.

Mervyn Taylor was the first to take up the new role of art editor at School Publications and “the bird illustrations were the first illustrated covers for the School Journal. He used his own engravings to start the [then paper] covers off in 1945” (Terence Taylor, personal communication, 2001). These black and white prints were to be very suitable for the reproduction processes of the School Journal and Taylor’s work was admired as setting a high standard of illustration for children.

Taylor’s Weka image of 1945 (see Figure 2) offered recognisably New Zealand subject matter on the School Journal cover, giving a strong initial visual presence for the issue. This visual information also supported identification of indigenous flora and fauna, fulfiling a pedagogical intent to assist children’s growing knowledge of “their place”.

Natural history

Rita Angus was another artist whose work contributed to the appearance of New Zealand flora and fauna in the School Journal (see Figure 3), strengthening visual identity themes which focused on the uniqueness of the New Zealand environment. Illustrating for the School Journal had been one of the few possible sources of paid work for women artists in New Zealand from early on in its production. Like illustrator Juliet Peter, Angus had attended art school and would become recognised as one of New Zealand’s significant artists.

The School Journal article, “A Plant Hunter’s Christmas” (1954) recounts the “discoveries” of Diffenbach, a European naturalist and explorer, “charmed” by the sight of the land from the top of Mount Egmont. It tells how plant specimens—“many had never been seen before” (Anderson, 1954, p. 54)—were to be gathered to be sent back to Kew Garden for classification. Although framed by an obvious colonial perspective on the land, this 1950s retelling of an episode in New Zealand history could be seen to support the post-war intent of the 1954 Primary School Syllabus: Understanding the World, Nature Study to study nature in order to “unify our seemingly diverse society. It shares this duty with history and social studies and is closely allied with these studies” (Department of Education, 1954, p. 2).

Rita Angus had a strong interest in New Zealand’s colonial history but a “wariness of the self conscious search for national identity which preoccupied Pākehā intellectual life at the time” (Cochran & Trevelyan, 2001, p. 10). In her School Journal illustrations, Angus offers enough visual information for children to identify the plant forms. Thus the illustrations support both the text in the article which discusses cataloguing indigenous flora, and the building of knowledge of New Zealand sought by the curriculum. The sense of design in her work, through use of pattern and shallow space, also reminds us of the legacy of New Zealand’s South Kensington style of art training “that had helped develop a national design vocabulary based on conventionalised native and adopted flora and fauna, and Māori motifs” (Calhoun, 2000, p. 56). It also reminds how drawing itself had a role to play in naming and claiming the land during colonisation.

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Make-believe

Constructing a sense of place through visual reference to Māori visual culture, notions of shared history, and indigenous fauna come together in the 1952 story “Jeremy at the Museum”, illustrated by Joan Smith (Figure 4). In this story, the museum is the site for exploring New Zealand history and identity— from the point of view of a Pākehā child visiting the museum with his mother.

Joan Smith, the illustrator, had already won the Esther Glen award in 1950 for children’s literature and was seeking an effective interaction between word and image for children in her work. Smith had a “consuming interest in Māori, their history and art” (Bassett, 1993, p. 97), and spent time researching artefacts and books at the Auckland Museum—the interior of which closely resembles the museum illustrated in this story. It would seem that she was also seeking to merge Pākehā and Māori traditions in her wider design practice.

This story progresses from the child viewing the moa (a long established symbol of New Zealand identity in its own right) as an artefact in its glass case and the mother viewing English china, to the child entering the “Māori house” in the museum where he “pretended he was a Māori and that the house was his home” (Chadwick, 1952, p. 60). Eventually he climbs into the waka, transgressing the museum protocols, and falls asleep.

At the time of this story’s appearance, a particular view of biculturalism in education was becoming evident, notably in the area of art education. Gordon Tovey, Superintendent of Arts and Crafts in the Department of Education, declared that “Art was to release every creative urge … and help restore the balance between information and imagination.” (Bieringa, C., 1994, p. 190). Art adviser Murray Richardson, who had worked under Tovey, noted of that time that Arts and Craft in schools promoted the “two canoes of Māori and Pākehā … in a vision of bicultural New Zealand based on a belief that strength came through cultural backbone” (personal communication, 1995). Arnold Wilson, one of the emerging Māori artists of the time, would later comment that there was a vision that “a new and as yet unimaginable National culture might be born in some marvellous year, a culture neither Māori or Pākehā, as presently known, but the child of both” (Pound, 1999, p. 181). In “Jeremy at the Museum”, imagination is certainly harnessed in the service of “belonging” and empathy.

The need for Pākehā to gain a sense of belonging and identification with the place Aotearoa New Zealand through the artefacts of an earlier Māori presence is a continuing theme in the subject of this story, in the artist’s practice, and in national curriculum developments of the time. The importance of imagination as an attribute facilitating shifts in identity is also being articulated here.

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Hindsight and foresight

Viewed in retrospect, it is possible to see (even in a small sampling of visual imagery), a cumulative “story” of New Zealandness being constructed visually through the work of a range of New Zealand artists in the School Journal. What remains and what is changing in the way that official curriculum is currently articulating identity for New Zealand students?

A new perception of New Zealand’s position in relation to Asia after the war was reflected in the 1947 article “China and you—a letter to young New Zealanders”. This article took up a stance on New Zealand’s position in the world—in particular, in an Asia which included China and Japan and the Pacific, opening the child to a national approach that took account of relationships with a wider world. The cover image of the issue (see Figure 5) shows the light falling on this part of the globe, literally reflecting a more international view. Inside the issue, Juliet Peter depicts uniform-clad children standing on a map of New Zealand looking outwards (see Figure 6). The symbolic function of the children as representatives of all New Zealand school children and their task to consider the world outside of New Zealand is clear.

Interestingly, many years after these School Journal images were published, the revised New Zealand Curriculum Draft for Consultation (Ministry of Education, 2006) itself has included an image of students standing on a map of New Zealand. The vision statement for the curriculum, placed beside this image in the draft document (Ministry of Education, 2006, p. 8), speaks of “young people confident … positive in their own identity”. In the accompanying image, a group of students of ethnically diverse appearance stand on a transparent New Zealand map which in turn is situated on the globe. New Zealand is described as “increasingly … part of the global community … at the same time there is a developing awareness of what is uniquely Aotearoa New Zealand…” (Ministry of Education, 2006, p. 3). Identity, it seems, is still on the official mind of curriculum writers, with an agenda that seeks to set a relevant direction for the future and for an increasingly diverse population.

As educational publications continue to support the official curriculum, what recyling of older visual themes will there be for new purposes in publications such as the School Journal, assisted by the use of current illustration and layout styles? The Minister of Education’s recent accompanying letter for the New Zealand Curriculum Draft for Consultation (2006) noted familiar aspects such as the appreciation of the natural environment, the understanding of our history, and our stance on international issues. The letter stated that “a curriculum that fosters these traits of national identity in our children will ensure a vibrant future for this country”. In the revised New Zealand Curriculum, it seems that the “natural assets” of New Zealand discussed at the 1940 Centennial Exhibition, for example, will be viewed through the lens of sustainable practice, in which the promotion of care for an environment under threat locally and globally is a key value.

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How will both individual and group identity and even a view of the world be constructed in and through visual imagery when supporting the new curriculum? How will the recognition in the official curriculum that Te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi as a founding document affect the use of visual languages in educational resources such as the School Journal in the future? How will teacher and student selection of educational materials contribute to experiencing the new curriculum’s intention to create belonging in a global environment?

It could be argued that the School Journal, as a miscellany and an ongoing publication, has offered us many ways to imagine ourselves as a kind of community of possibilities—always becoming. Examining our visual histories in a publication such as the School Journal can offer insights into the ways in which we have represented ourselves in the past and over time, and into the contexts that have framed these representations. And perhaps it is in the actions of viewing, engaging, and responding to material publications that identity may be constructed, as well as in the artist production.

Acknowledgement

Grateful acknowledgement is made to Learning Media for permission to use the following:

Material from first published School Journal by Learning Media Limited for the Ministry of Education. Copyright © Crown, various.

School Journal 14/1 Feb 1940: cover – Centennial Exhibition photograph; School Journal 1/5 June 1944: cover (including the masthead design and a Conrad Frieboe); School Journal 2/4 May 1945: cover (illustration of Weka by Mervin Taylor); School Journal Part 2/7 Vol 42 August 1948: cover of Journal and story illustrations for “Te Awa Awa” by Juliet Peter; School Journal 4/3 April 1947: cover and map illustration from p. 66 of the same (from article “China and You.”); School Journal Part 4 Spring 1954: illustrations by Rita Angua for ‘A Plant Hunters Christmas’; School Journal 1/4 1952, illustrations for ‘Jeremy at the Museum by Joan Smith.

References

Abbiss, J. (1998). The ‘New Education Fellowship’ in New Zealand: Its activity and influence in the 1930s and 1940s. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 33(1), 81–93.

Anderson, A. W. (1954, Spring). A Plant Hunter’s Christmas. School Journal, 4, 50–57.

Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined communities—reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London:Versoe.

Bassett. D. (1993). Joan Smith—painter and designer. Art New Zealand, 6, 94–98.

Beaglehole, J. C. (1951). A small bouquet for the Education Department. Arts Year Book 7, 122–129. Wellington: The Wingfield Press.

Bieringa, L. (1994, August). Art education or education through art? Paper presented at ANZAAE conference, Wellington.

Calhoun, A. (2000). The Arts and Crafts Movement in New Zealand 1870–1940. Auckland: Auckland University Press.

Chadwick, N. (1952). Jeremy at the museum. School Journal, 1(4), 58– 64.

Cochran, V., & Trevelyan, J. (2001). Rita Angus live to paint & paint to live. Auckland: Random House.

Jenkins, D. R. (1939). Social attitudes in the New Zealand School Journal. Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Mackle, T. (1988). E. Mervyn Taylor (1906–64). Art New Zealand 49, 72–75.

McGee, C. (1997). Teachers and curriculum decision-making. Palmerston North: Dunmore Press.

McGeorge, C. (1993). Race, empire and the Māori in New Zealand primary school curriculum 1880–1940. In J. A. Mangean (Ed.), The imperial curriculum racial images and education in the British colonial experience. (pp. 65–78). London: Routledge.

Ministry of Education. (2006). New Zealand Curriculum draft for consultation. Wellington: Learning Media.

Moore, H. (2002). Imag-ining the Nation. Unpublished thesis for Master of Design, Massey University.

New Zealand Department of Education (1954). Primary School Syllabus, Understanading the World—nature study. Wellington: Author.

O’Brien, G. (2007). A nest of singing birds—100 years of the New Zealand School Journal. Wellington: Learning Media.

Palethorpe, N. B. (1940). Official history of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition Wellington. 1939–1940. Wellington: New Zealand Department of Education.

Pound, F. (1999). The space between. Pākehā use of Māori motifs in modernist New Zealand. Auckland: Workshop Press.

Wells, P. (1957). The New Zealand School Publications Branch, UNESCO. Educational Studies and Documents, No. 25. Paris: UNESCO.

Helen Moore is currently an arts educator and curriculum adviser at UC Education Plus, University of Canterbury. Past roles have included National Facilitator Primary Visual Arts; pre-service lecturer, primary generalist and secondary specialist teacher, and freelance and studio-based designer.