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Whose Got the Longitude
Graphite pencil, ink, conté, carbon, oils, liquin on board
1070 x 1070 mm
Signed lower right
2018
Framed -
The Poor Widow & the River
Oils on board
510 x 610 x 20 mm
Signed
Framed -
King Log
Oils on board
610 x 760 x 50 mm
Signed
Framed -
Goosander Pair
Oils on board
490 x 828 mm
Signed & dated 1994
Framed -
The Little Crustacean & the Penguin
Oils on board
510 x 610 x 20 mm
Signed -
Who Taught Little Ducklings to Dance …
Graphite pencil, ink, conté, carbon, oils, liquin on board
610 x 910 mm
Signed
Framed -
There was an Old Person from Basing …
Graphite pencil, ink, conté, carbon, oils, liquin on board
610 x 910 mm
Signed
Framed -
Second Summons of Reynard the Fox
Graphite pencil, ink, conté, carbon, oils, liquin on board
1070 x 1070 mm
Signed
Framed -
The Dispute
Graphite pencil, ink, conté, carbon, oils, liquin on board
920 x 1070 mm
Signed top right
Framed -
The Spotted Shags & Their Joy
Alkyd/Acrylic on canvas board
510 x 610 mm
Framed
Signed
Page 224 of Dawn Chorus -
The Blue-bottle in the Air
Alkyd/Acrylic on canvas board
510 x 610 mm
Framed
Signed
Page 208 of Dawn Chorus -
The Gulls & the Foolish Gesture
Oils on board
510 x 610 mm
Framed
Signed
Page 230 of Dawn Chorus -
The Rats & the Birds on the Shore
Alkyd/Acrylic on canvas board
610 x 510 mm
Framed
Signed
Pages 226 – 227 of Dawn Chorus -
The Owl Hit by an Arrow
Alkyd/Acrylic on canvas board
510 x 610 mm
Framed
Signed
Page 225 of Dawn Chorus -
Takapu & the Dog
Alkyd/Acrylic on canvas board
510 x 610 mm
Framed
Signed
Page 200 of Dawn Chorus -
The Gull, the Bat & the Biddy-bid
Alkyd/Acrylic on canvas board
510 x 610 mm
Framed
Signed
Page 213 of Dawn Chorus -
News travelled quickly
Alkyd/Acrylic on canvas board
510 x 610 mm
Framed
Signed
From pages 34-35 of Dawn Chorus -
The Stream & its Source
Oils on board
510 x 610 x 20 mm
Signed
Illustrated in P.166-167 of Aesop’s Outback Fables -
The Bat’s Conduct
Alkyd/Acrylic on canvas board
910 x 1100 mm
Framed
Signed
Pages 68-69 of Aesop’s Outback Fables -
The Echidna & the Eagle
Oils on board
510 x 510 mm
Framed
Signed
Pages 18-19 of Aesop’s Outback Fables -
The Hawk & the Young Bitterns
Oils on board
510 x 610 mm
Framed
Signed
Pages 234-235 of Aesop’s Outback Fables -
The Pigeons Who Danced
Oils on board
510 x 610 mm
Framed
Signed
Pages 84-85 of Aesop’s Outback Fables -
The Emu Who Complained
Oils on board
610 x 760 mm
Framed
Signed
Pages 88-89 of Aesop’s Outback Fables -
The Ant
Oils on board
510 x 610 mm
Framed
Signed
Page 105 of Aesop’s Outback Fables -
The Possum without a tail
Oils on board
460 x 610 mm
Framed
Signed
Pages 108-109 of Aesop’s Outback Fables -
The Birds, the Beasts & the Bat
Alkyd/Acrylic on canvas board
1100 x 1370 mm
Framed
Signed
Pages 62-63 of Aesop’s Outback Fables -
The Kangaroo’s Dream
Oils on board
510 x 610 x 20 mm
Signed
Illustrated in P.134-135 of Aesop’s Outback Fables -
Winter & Spring
Oils on board
510 x 510 x 18 mm
Signed
Illustrated on P.128 of Aesop’s Outback Fables -
The Sun and the Southerly Wind
The Sun and the Southerly Wind
oils on composite board
915 x 1070 mm -
The Hawk the Falcon & the Pigeons
Oils on composite board
915 x 1070 mm
Framed
Signed -
The Little Fish and the Penguin
Oils on composite board
915 x 1070 mm
Framed
Signed -
Nude, 1979
Graphite on Paper
340 x 595 mm
Signed upper left: Raymond Ching -
Study for Broad & Narrow Ways
Graphite on Paper
270 x 660 mm
Signed lower left: Raymond Ching -
Lists/Stratocumulus goose
Oils on panel
1370 x 1750 mm
Signed & dated 2007
Framed -
The Arrival of the Pipiwharauroa
Oils on canvas, laid on panel
700 x 910 mm
Framed
Signed & dated 2007 -
Paid-back/Daybreak
Oils on canvas, laid on panel
1080 x 900 mm
Signed & dated 2007
Framed -
A Young Man
Oil on panel
390 x 270 mm
Signed, 1995
Framed -
K.W.
Oil on canvas
650 x 530 mm
Signed & dated 1994 – 1996
Framed

Born in 1939 in Wellington, Raymond Ching is renowned as New Zealand’s leading contemporary bird and figure painter. Ching has been called an “artist’s artist” and among bird painters is a draughtsman without peer. A renowned artist of life-like portraits in the wildlife genre, he paints obsessively to push the boundaries of his artistic practice.
Ching began exhibiting his bird paintings in the 1960s. His first exhibition Thirty Birds, in 1968 was a sell out, attracting the attention of Sir William Collins of Collins Publishing. Sir William, a keen ornithologist, invited Ching to the United Kingdom to produce a book of his bird paintings. However, upon his arrival Ching came into contact with the publishers of The Reader’s Digest who, along with Collins Publishing, intended to produce a major book on the birds of Britain. Ching was commissioned to paint 230 full-colour studies. The Reader’s Digest Book of British Birds, published in 1969, became the world’s most successful and biggest selling ornithological book. This enthusiastic reception led Ching to produce a series of natural history books. Eleven books documenting his paintings have been published including: ‘The Bird Paintings‘, 1978, ‘Studies & Sketches of a Bird Painter‘, 1981,’The Art of Raymond Ching‘, 1981, ‘Wild Portraits‘, 1988, and ‘Ray Harris Ching’.
In 2010 Ray Ching ventured into the genre of graphic novels with the first publication by David Bateman Publishing, ‘Aesop’s Kiwi Fables-Painting’ by Ray Ching. This publication accompanied his first of two exhibitions at ARTIS Gallery (2010, and 2012). In 2014, ‘Dawn Chorus‘ was published (also by Bateman Publishing) and accompanied another two further exhibitions at ARTIS in 2014 and 2015. Ching’s most recent book ‘Aesop’s Outback Fables’ was published in 2018 by Artis Gallery.
In 2012 Ching was commissioned by Sir David Attenborough to paint a large oil work which was used to illustrate the cover of Attenborough’s latest book, Drawn from Paradise. For Attenborough Ray Ching completed a 1.8 x 2.4 m oil on canvas titled, ‘End to the Squandering of Beauty’ (Entry of the Birds of Paradise into Western Thought).
Living in Wiltshire, UK, Ching continues to paint birds and animals, as well as remarkably life-like portraits. Working primarily in oils and watercolours, Ching’s works are incredibly detailed with an almost photographic quality. Merging realism with fictional compositions, Ching slowly builds up his paintings layer upon layer, often leaving the under drawing peeking through the transparent paint.
Ching exhibits regularly in New Zealand and around the world. Venues include the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin; Brighton Art Gallery and Museum, England; the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia; and in Johannesburg. His paintings are held in numerous private and public collections, such as those of the National Museum of Wildlife Art in the USA, and portraits from his exhibition A True Story are held in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS AT ARTIS
2019 – The Voyage. ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2018 – Aesop’s Outback Fables, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2015 – Dawn Chorus – The Fables, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2014 – Dawn Chorus, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2012 – Aesop’s Kiwi Fables (part 2) ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2010 – Aesop’s Kiwi Fables, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2008 – Autobiography, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2007 – Ark, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2005 – The Last Tree Fell, Artis Gallery, Auckland
2000 – Ray Ching Paintings, Jonathan Grant Gallery, Auckland
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2018 – Aesop’s Outback Fables, Artis Gallery, 280 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand
2014 – Dawn Chorus, Bateman, David, Auckland
2012 – Drawn From Paradise: The Discovery, Art and Natural History of the Birds of Paradise, Collins, Harper, Introduction by Sir David Attenborough and Errol Fuller, London
2012 – Aesop’s Kiwi Fables, Bateman, David, paintings Ray Ching, Introduction by Richard Wolfe, Auckland
1994 – Ray Harris-Ching: Voice from the Wilderness, Lang, David and Raymond Harris-Ching, Auckland
1991 – Nature in Art, Tomlinson, David., London
1990 – Ray Harris-Ching, Journey of an Artist (Masters of the Wild), Smith, Carol Sinclair, South Carolina
Kiwis, A Monograph of the Apterygidae, Fuller, Errol (ed.), Auckland
1988 – Painting Birds, Rayfield, Susan, New York
Wild Portraits, Paintings and Drawings by Raymond Harris-Ching, Hansard, Peter, Auckland
1986 – New Zealand Birds, An Artist’s Field-Studies, Harris-Ching, Raymond, Auckland
Twentieth Century Wildlife Artists, Hammond, Nicholas, New York
1985 – Wildlife Painting: Techniques of Modern Masters, Rayfield, Susan, New York
1981 – The Art of Raymond Ching, Hansard, Peter, Auckland
Studies & Sketches of a Bird Painter, Harris-Ching, Raymond, Melbourne
1978 – Raymond Ching, The Bird Paintings, Snow, David, A.H Chisholm and M.F. Soper. , London and Auckland
1969 – Book of British Birds, Reader’s Digest, The Reader’s Digest A.A., London, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974 1977, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1992
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 – The Voyage. ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2018 – Aesop’s Outback Fables, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2015 – Dawn Chorus – The Fables, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2014 – Dawn Chorus, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2012 – Aesop’s Kiwi Fables (part 2) ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2010 – Aesop’s Kiwi Fables, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2008 – Autobiography, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2007 – Ark, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
Constellation, The Tryon Gallery, London
2005 – The Last Tree Fell, Artis Gallery, Auckland
2004 – Ray Ching: Bird Paintings, Pacific Galleries, LaFayette, California
2002 – Ray Ching: Measured Drawings, Tinakori Gallery, Wellington; John Leech Gallery, Auckland
2001 – Ray Ching: Fragments, 10 Paintings, Tinakori Gallery, Wellington; John Leech Gallery, Auckland
2000 – Ray Ching: Paintings, (A True Story), Tinakori Gallery, Wellington; Jonathan Grant Galleries, Auckland
1998 – Ray Ching: A True Story, Tryon & Swann Gallery, London
Ray Ching: A True Story, Rye Gallery, England
Ray Ching: Puzzles & Fragments, 10 Paintings, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1997 – Beds, 8 Paintings by Ray Ching, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1996 – Ray Harris Ching, Recent Paintings, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1994 – Voice from the Wilderness, paintings and drawings, The Tryon Gallery, London
The SAPPI Commission, paintings and drawings, The Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Southern African Bird Portraits, The SAPPI Collection, Central City Gallery, London, England
1993 – Recent Paintings & Drawings, The Tryon Gallery, London
1989 – Paintings & Drawings, Charlotte H. Gallery, Auckland
Drawings of New Zealand Birds, Charlotte H. Gallery, Auckland
1988 – Wild Portraits, Rye Art Gallery, England; The Tryon & Moorland Galleries, London; The Australian Galleries / The Tryon Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
1986 – The Gilded Triptych & Recent Wildlife Paintings, The Tryon & Moorland Galleries, London
1982 – Ray Ching: Paintings & Drawings, International Art Centre, Auckland
Bird Paintings & Sketches, Tryon & Moorland Galleries, London
1980 – Paintings, International Art Centre, Auckland
1977 – Ray Ching: Recent Paintings & Drawings, Rye Gallery, England; International Art Centre, Auckland
1976 – Drawings, The Falcon Gallery, Auckland
1967 – Studies of New Zealand Wildlife, John Leech Gallery, Auckland
1966 – Thirty Birds, John Leech Gallery, Auckland
Drawings of New Zealand Birds, Charlotte H. Gallery, Auckland
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Auckland City Art Gallery, New Zealand
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand
Suter Gallery Nelson, New Zealand
Solitaire Lodge, Rotorua, New Zealand
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA
National Museum of Wildlife Art, USA
Estate of Daniel M. Galbreath; The Amin Shah Gallery
Featured Books
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Ray Ching – Dawn Chorus
$85.00