Douglas MacDiarmid Colours of a Life

The book, set to be published in July 2018, is a biography of the life and times of Douglas MacDiarmid. The biography explores the past 10 decades of the artist’s career, from his childhood in New Zealand, through his long and colourful painting career in France. The art, relationships, travel, and philosophies of a truly charismatic expatriate New Zealand painter.

Douglas MacDiarmid has achieved an international reputation as an expatriate New Zealand painter. He defies labelling, acclaimed particularly as a superb colourist and for the diversity, technique and intellectual rigour of his paintings. Now almost 95, still resident in Paris, MacDiarmid is the oldest survivor of his extraordinary generation of creative New Zealanders, and perhaps a missing link – the one who got away and slid under the radar for choosing to pursue a global career rather than a domestic living.

Douglas MacDiarmid has achieved an international reputation as an expatriate New Zealand painter. He defies labelling, acclaimed particularly as a superb colourist and for the diversity, technique and intellectual rigour of his paintings. His life and insights have the distinction of straddling almost a century of cultural trends and influences, in New Zealand and abroad.

Just as the diversity of MacDiarmid’s paintings has something for everyone, this book will appeal to a wide audience. Apart from those interested in art, New Zealanders making it abroad, motivational life stories of overcoming the odds, history and cultural change.

Douglas MacDiarmid
The Colours of Life