Dr Jane Davidson-Ladd is a curator and art historian based in New Zealand. Her interest in British art relates to its influence on colonial New Zealand art. She completed her PhD at the University of Auckland in 2023, titled The Master of ‘Maoriland’: Louis John Steele, 1842-1918. An English artist trained at the Royal Academy Schools and École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, Steele was an influential figure in New Zealand from his arrival in 1886 until his death. During this time he became the Master of ‘Maoriland’. A synonym used for New Zealand at the time, Maoriland also describes the imaginative world created by Pākehā (European) artists drawing on Māori history and culture to create a backstory for themselves within this country. The term is not without some irony: Māori were the subject of these works, but the fictitious world created within them was for a Pākehā audience. Steele brought to New Zealand the influences of the British and French Schools, but his new home also greatly affected his practice.
Jane was previously a curator at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2002–2012. Prior to joining the Gallery she undertook her MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. Her thesis considered the V&A and how it was attempting to engage with the ‘contemporary’ to make itself more relevant in the 21st century. Following the completion of her thesis she interned in the Contemporary Team at the V&A.
