{{Short description|New Zealand artist (1947–2021)}} {{similar names|William Hammond (disambiguation){{!}}William Hammond}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox artist | name = Bill Hammond | image = | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = William David Hammond | birth_date = {{birth date|1947|8|29|df=y}} | birth_place = Christchurch, New Zealand | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2021|1|30|1947|8|29}} | death_place = Christchurch, New Zealand | movement = | works = | patrons = | influenced by = | influenced = | awards = 1994 Premier Award winner, Visa Gold Art Awards (co-winners with Luise Fong) | elected = | website = | education = Ilam School of Fine Arts<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://newsline.ccc.govt.nz/news/story/hammond-paints-to-own-rare-beat-in-christchurch-art-gallery-show |title = Hammond paints to own rare beat in Christchurch Art Gallery show}}</ref> | alma_mater = University of Canterbury | known_for = painting }} '''William Hammond''' (29 August 1947 – 30 January 2021) was a New Zealand artist who was part of the post-colonial Gothic movement at the end of the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=155436 |title = Bill Hammond's private artistic vision|newspaper =The New Zealand Herald |date = 15 October 2000}}</ref> He lived and worked in Lyttelton.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Paul Wood|first=Andrew|date=11 July 2017|title=Art: Bill Hammond|url=https://www.vervemagazine.co.nz/bill-hammond/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305010130/http://vervemagazine.co.nz/bill-hammond/ |archive-date=5 March 2018 |access-date=|website=Verve magazine}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Simmons|first1=Laurence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9T8GtAEJggwC&q=Bill+Hammond+new+zealand+artist&pg=PA156|title=Knowing Animals|last2=Armstrong|first2=Philip|year=2007|isbn=978-9004157736}}</ref> The theme of his works centred around the environment and social justice.
==Early life== Hammond was born in Christchurch on 29 August 1947.<ref name="RNZ obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/435576/bill-hammond-one-of-nation-s-most-influential-artists-has-died|title=Bill Hammond, one of nation's most influential artists, has died|publisher=Radio New Zealand |date=1 February 2021}}</ref> He attended Burnside High School.<ref name="Van Beynen">{{cite news|title=Lyttelton legend' Bill Hammond remembered for his 'immense' contribution to New Zealand's art|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124114580/lyttelton-legend-bill-hammond-remembered-for-his-immense-contribution-to-new-zealands-art|first1=Martin|last1=Van Beynen|first2=Tina|last2=Law|first3=Lee|last3=Kenny|date=1 February 2021|publisher=Stuff|access-date=1 February 2021}}</ref> He went on to study at the Ilam School of Fine Arts of the University of Canterbury from 1966 until 1969.<ref name="Van Beynen"/><ref name="NZH obit">{{cite news|title=Bill Hammond, one of New Zealand's most influential artists, has died|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/bill-hammond-one-of-new-zealands-most-influential-artists-has-died/PPTFYBN5YMSGQ2TA77RMOVGTTU/|date=31 January 2021|newspaper=The New Zealand Herald|access-date=31 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Bill Hammond: Something is happening here|url=https://artnow.nz/exhibitions/bill-hammond-something-is-happening-here|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918071043/https://artnow.nz/exhibitions/bill-hammond-something-is-happening-here |archive-date=18 September 2020 |access-date=|website=ArtNow}}</ref> Before embarking on his career in art, he worked in a sign factory, made wooden toys, and was a jewellery designer.<ref name="de Jong">{{cite news|title=Bill Hammond, renowned New Zealand artist, dies aged 74|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/01/bill-hammond-renowned-new-zealand-artist-dies-aged-74|first=Eleanor|last=de Jong|date=1 February 2021|access-date=1 February 2021|newspaper=The Guardian |location=London}}</ref> He also had a keen interest in music, serving as the percussionist for a jug band<ref name="RNZ obit"/> called The Band of Hope.
==Career== Hammond started to exhibit his works in 1980,<ref name="RNZ obit"/> and went back to painting on a full-time basis one year later.<ref name="Jingle Jangle">{{cite news|title=Bill Hammond: Jingle Jangle Morning|url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/exhibitions/bill-hammond-jingle-jangle-morning|year=2007|access-date=1 February 2021|publisher=Christchurch Art Gallery}}</ref> His first solo exhibition was at the Brooke Gifford Gallery in Christchurch in 1982.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 February 2021 |title=Bill Hammond One of the Nation's Most Influential Artists has Died |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/435576/bill-hammond-one-of-nation-s-most-influential-artists-has-died |access-date=8 March 2024 |website=Radio New Zealand.}}</ref> In March 1987 he showed for the first time at the Peter McLeavey Gallery in Wellington, an exhibition followed by over 20 others.<ref name="RNZ obit"/>
One of Hammond's best known work was the painting ''Waiting for Buller'' (1993).<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Potts|first1=Annie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DwFXAgAAQBAJ&q=Bill+Hammond+new+zealand+collection&pg=PA182|title=A New Zealand Book of Beasts: Animals in Our Culture, History and Everyday Life|last2=Armstrong|first2=Philip|last3=Brown|first3=Deidre|date=March 2014|isbn=9781869407728}}</ref> This was in reference to Walter Lawry Buller, the first New Zealander ornithologist who wrote ''[https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1466626 A History of New Zealand Bird] s'' in 1873.<ref name="RNZ obit"/> Hammond was particularly interested in the contradictions in Buller's life, in how he documented birds while being a hunter and taxidermist.<ref name="Shag Pile">{{cite news|title=Shag Pile|url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/collection/2004-45/william-d-hammond/shag-pile|access-date=1 February 2021|publisher=Christchurch Art Gallery}}</ref> Another noted piece of his was ''Fall of Icarus'' (1995),<ref>{{cite news|title=Bill Hammond – Fall of Icarus|url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/multimedia/collection-not-displayed/bill-hammond|access-date=1 February 2021|publisher=Christchurch Art Gallery}}</ref> which explores the effects of the colonisation on the country,<ref name="de Jong"/> and is exhibited at Christchurch Art Gallery.<ref name="RNZ obit"/> ''The Guardian'' described this as "his most famous work".<ref name="de Jong"/> His painting ''Bone Yard, Open Home'' (2009) was the largest single piece of canvas he painted,<ref name="Van Beynen"/> with a width of more than four metres.<ref>{{cite news|title=A Bird in the Hand|url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/blog/note/2020/10/a-bird-in-the-hand|first=Blair|last=Jackson|date=1 October 2020|access-date=1 February 2021|publisher=Christchurch Art Gallery}}</ref>
In 1994, Hammond was the joint Premier Award winners with Luise Fong for the Visa Gold Art Award, the largest art prize in New Zealand at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Visa Gold Art Awards |url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/exhibitions/visa-gold-art-awards |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=christchurchartgallery.org.nz}}</ref>
==Themes== The overarching theme of Hammond's work was social and environmental issues. Specifically, it touched on the imperiled state of both,<ref name="RNZ obit"/> as well as the destruction brought on by colonisation.<ref name="de Jong"/> His paintings feature two common themes: references to popular music and gaunt creatures with avian heads and human limbs.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gate|first=Charlie|date=18 March 2016|title=Christchurch artist Bill Hammond sells quake-damaged Lyttelton studio|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/78031147/christchurch-artist-bill-hammond-sells-quakedamaged-lyttelton-studio|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203070653/https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/78031147/christchurch-artist-bill-hammond-sells-quakedamaged-lyttelton-studio |archive-date=3 February 2019 |access-date=|website=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SoeG-AykSrYC&q=Bill+Hammond+University+of+Canterbury&pg=PA508 | title=The Rough Guide to New Zealand| isbn=9781405385480| last1=Whitfield| first1=Paul| date=September 2010}}</ref> The characters in Hammond's paintings, which were often anthropomorphic animals, rarely move away from their natural habitat and are in no hurry.<ref name="Jingle Jangle"/> Humans are notably absent from his works during the later part of his career, which was influenced by his visit to the Auckland Islands in 1989.<ref name="RNZ obit"/><ref name="de Jong"/> Two signature colours employed by Hammond were emerald green and gold.<ref name="Jingle Jangle"/> He was also at the forefront of the Post-colonial Gothic movement. This ultimately became "one of the most influential tendencies in New Zealand painting" at the turn of the 3rd millennium.<ref name="Shag Pile"/>
==Later life== Hammond eschewed giving interviews<ref name="de Jong"/> and guarded his privacy.<ref name="Van Beynen"/> He died in Christchurch on the evening of 30 January 2021, at the age of 73.<ref name="RNZ obit"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://deaths.press.co.nz/nz/obituaries/the-press-nz/name/william-hammond-obituary?id=39910629 |title=William Hammond obituary |date=6 February 2021 |work=The Press |access-date=31 March 2025}}</ref> He was labelled as one of the country's "most influential contemporary painters" by Radio New Zealand.<ref name="RNZ obit"/>
==Collections== *Chartwell Collection at the Auckland Art Gallery<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.chartwell.org.nz/Acquisitions/RecentAcquisitions/id/371/title/bill-hammond-cornwall-road.aspx |title = Bill Hammond – Cornwall Road – Chartwell Collection of contemporary art}}</ref> *Christchurch Art Gallery<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/collection/l02-2009/william-d-hammond/living-large-6 | title=Living Large 6}}</ref> *Fletcher Trust Collection<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://fletchercollection.org.nz/artworks/gladrap/ |title = Gladrap}}</ref> *Museum of New Zealand<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/agent/994 |title = Collections Online – Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa}}</ref> *Sarjeant Gallery<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bill Hammond|url=https://collection.sarjeant.org.nz/persons/9319/bill-hammond|access-date=23 November 2020|website=Sarjeant Gallery Whanganui|language=en}}</ref> *University of Auckland Art Collection<ref name="UAuckland">{{Cite web | url=https://artcollection.auckland.ac.nz/record/69082 |title = Art Collection > "Twirl"}}</ref> *Victoria and Albert Museum, London.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.nznewsuk.co.uk/columns/?id=29507&story=New-Zealand-art-lands-in-V-A-museum |title = New Zealand art lands in V&A museum | New Zealand News UK}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://nz-artists.co.nz/artists/hammond/ NZ Artists online gallery and biography]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammond, Bill}} Category:1947 births Category:2021 deaths Category:Contemporary painters Category:Ilam School of Fine Arts alumni Category:People from Lyttelton, New Zealand Category:20th-century New Zealand painters Category:20th-century New Zealand male artists