Governor General Award 2007

Robin Kay was presented the Governor General Art Award by the Right Honourable Justice Blanchard, in his role as Administrator deputising for the Governor General the Honourable Sir Anand Satyanand who was attending the funeral of the Samoan King Malietoa Tanumafili II.

Mr Kay first joined the Academy in 1938, many of these years following as an artist member, and twenty one on the Academy Council. Having started his training in Christchurch as a secondary student. In fact two early works in his Governor General Award exhibition, a landscape and still life date from when he was about 16 or 17. That he has always produced quality works, and is still going strong, was shown in the wonderful retrospective of his works as part of the award exhibition.

It was a lucky boon to the arts in New Zealand that the decision by the headmaster of his Napier primary school in 1931 to extend playtime while he finished his cup of tea saw Robin avoid being in his classroom when the tragic earthquake hit, demolishing his brick classroom.  

He began his working life as a cadet journalist on The Times in Palmerston North and, after serving with the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary forces in the Middle East, joined the war history staff under Major-General Sir Howard Kippenberger. In 1983 with Tony Eden Robin wrote 'Portrait of a Century' the history of the NZ Academy of Fine Arts first one hundred years. (much of which makes up the history page here)

He is represented by paintings and drawings in the National Collection, The Alexander Turnbull Library and the National Collectrion of War Art. He won several awards at the Academy's National Bank Awards.

Robin Kay's watercolours conitinue to feature strongly in the current Academy exhibitions as one of our longest serving painters.

'East Coast', watercolour	'Kapiti', watercolour