Te Papa pays homage to 'eighth wonder of the world'

MEMORIES: Art depicting the Pink and White Terraces is on display at Te Papa. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Te Papa is paying homage to the "eighth wonder of the world", 130 years after the Tarawera eruption.

The Pink and White Terraces were once considered 'the eighth wonder of the world'. Paintings and photographs continue to reproduce their glory long after they vanished beneath the 1886 Tarawera eruption.

Te Papa in Wellington has 12 19th century paintings and photographs that depict the Pink and White Terraces of the Rotorua region on display until February next year.

The exhibition showcases works by painters Charles Blomfield and John Barr Clarke Hoyte and photographers Charles Spencer, the Burton Brothers and Daniel Mundy.

In the 19th century, the Pink and White Terraces at Lake Rotomahana became the country's most popular tourist attraction.

The terraces were buried 130 years ago, on June 10, 1886, in the Mt Tarawera eruption. Pictures are all that remain.

Rebecca Rice, curator Historical New Zealand Art, highlights 10 paintings and photographs from Te Papa's collection that feature this magical "wonderland" and inspire a sense of awe in viewers to this day.

There was the magical beauty of the terraces themselves, with their stepped basins, brimming with semi-opaque turquoise water. There was also a more curious, almost grotesque side to the landscape, with the sometimes uncanny shapes of its silica structures, and the gurgling and bubbling of its sulphurous pools of mud.

Otukapuarangi (The Pink Terraces) and Te Tarata (The White Terraces) were 800m apart on the shores of Lake Rotomahana. The White Terraces were north-facing and bleached by the sun, while the more sheltered Pink Terraces retained their pinkish hue.

Colour photography had not been invented, so while photographers could portray the remarkable form of the terraces, they were unable to capture their colours. Some attempted to convey the beauty of the site by hand-colouring their photographs.

This was not a problem faced by painters, yet the terraces were less frequented by them, with two notable exceptions: Hoyte and Blomfield. Both artists had prolific careers.

For Blomfield, this magical "wonderland" ultimately defined his career and provided a subject he would return to time and again.

Blomfield tapped into the tourist market, executing these New Zealand views which were distributed around the globe.

The burial of the terraces provided an unexpected boost to Blomfield's career. Overnight, pictures of the terraces produced by artists and photographers jumped in value.