Peter Siddell was born in Auckland in 1935 and grew up in the suburb of Arch Hill and was educated at Mt Albert Grammar School and the  Auckland College of Education. He worked as a schoolteacher and electrician until 1972 when painting became a full time activity. In 1960 he married the artist Sylvia Siddell. They live in Auckland and have two adult daughters.
In 1991 Peter Siddell was awarded the Q.S.O. and in the 2008 New Years Honours he was the recipient of the D.C.N.Z.M.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2003 Small Paintings, Artis Gallery, Auckland
2002-2004  Peter Siddell: Landscape, a touring exhibition
2002  Pastels, Artis Gallery, Auckland
2000  Three Points South, Artis Gallery, Auckland
1998  From a Distance  Artis Gallery, Auckland
1996  View from the Antipodes Artis Gallery, Auckland
1994  From the Isthmus Artis Gallery, Auckland
1986  Fisher Art Gallery, Auckland
1986  Robert McDougall Gallery, Christchurch
1986  John Leech Gallery, Auckland
1984  Dennis Cohn Gallery, Auckland
1982  Dennis Cohn Gallery, Auckland
1982  Louise Beale Gallery, Wellington
1981  R.K.S. Art, Auckland
1981  Elva Bett Gallery, Wellington
1980  Dennis Cohn Gallery, Auckland
1980  Barry Lett Gallery, Auckland
1978  Barry Lett Gallery, Auckland
1976  Barry Lett Gallery, Auckland
1976  Mollers Gallery, Auckland
1974  Mollers Gallery, Auckland
1972  Mollers Gallery, Auckland

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2008 Western Gothic, Corban Estate Arts Centre, Henderson
2008 Waitakere Arts Laureate's Exhibition, Corban Estate Arts Centre, Henderson
2007 Existence:Life According to Art, Waikato Art Museum Hamilton
2005 Landscape as Background, Lopdell House Gallery
2004 Land/Landscape, North Art, North Shore City
2004 Golden: Celebrating 50 years of the Friends.Auckland City Art Gallery
2004 History Now, Te Tuhi, Pakuranga.
2004 Tales of Gold, Artspace Auckland
2003 Saints and Seraphs.  Auckland City Art Gallery
2000 Door to Door.  Fisher Art Gallery Pakuranga
1998 Dream Collectors. Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.
          Auckland City Art Gallery.  Dunedin Art Gallery
1998 Revisioning the Real Lopdell House Gallery, Robert McDougall Gallery,
1995 The Persuasion of the Real    Touring Exhibition
1993 Real Vision, Robert McDougall Gallery, Christchurch
1993 Contemporary New Zealand Art  Robert McDougall Gallery,Christchurch
1991 Panoramas of Auckland   Auckland City Art gallery
1991 Images of Home and Garden   Robert McDougall Gallery, Christchurch
1990 Two Centuries of New Zealand Landscape Art, Auckland City Art Gallery
1986 Goodman Suter Bienniale
1984 From the Real World, Southland Museum
1982 The Self Portrait, National Art Gallery, Wellington
1981 Artists Boxes, Manawatu Art Gallery
1979 Artist's Flags, National Art Gallery
1979 Contemporary New Zealand Realist Paintings, Auckland City Art Gallery
1979 20th Century Landscape, Auckland City Art Gallery
1978 Auckland Artists, Auckland City Art Gallery
1978 Little Works, Auckland City Art Gallery
1977 Opening Exhibition, Rotorua Art Gallery
1976 Benson and Hedges Art Award
1976 New Zealand Drawing, Auckland City Art Gallery
1976 Benson and Hedges Art Award
1975 Tokoroa Art Award
1974 Benson and Hedges Art Award

COLLECTIONS
Peter Siddell's work is represented in many New Zealand corporate collections such as Fletcher Challenge, Brierly,Telecom, BNZ and ASB, and in the permanent collections of many public institutions including:

Auckland Art Gallery, Toi O Tamaki
Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
Rotorua Museum of Art & HistoryTe Whare Taonga o Te Arawa
Te Manawa,Manawatu Art Gallery. Palmerston North
Waikato Art Gallery
Hawkes Bay Art Gallery
Anderson Park Art Gallery, Invercargill
Suter Gallery, Nelson
Christchurch Art Gallery - Te Puna o Waiwhetu
Auckland University
Victoria University, Wellington
Auckland College of Education
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wellington
Auckland City Council
Government House, Wellington
Wallace Trust Collection

AWARDS
1978   Benson and Hedges Supplementary Art Award
1978   Air New Zealand Travel Award
1991 Queen's Service Order (Q.S.O.)
2008  Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM)
2008 Waitakere City Art Laureate

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Christopher Johnstone, The Painted Garden in New Zealand, Random House New Zealand, 2008

Richard Wolfe, New Zealand Portraits, Viking Penguin(NZ) 2008

David Eggleton, Towards Aotearoa : A Short History of 20th Century New Zealand art,
Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd, 2007.

Christopher Johnstone, Landscape Paintings of New Zealand : A Journey from North to South, Random House New Zealand, 2006.

Deborah Shepard (ed), Between the Lives, Auckland University Press, 2005.

Rhoda Fowler, History Now, te tuhi-the mark, 2004.

Michael Dunn, New Zealand Painting, A Concise History, Auckland University Press, 2003.

Sarah Gordon (ed), Peter Siddell: Landscape, Artis Gallery, 2002

Peter Shaw, Rainbow Over Mount Eden: Images of Auckland, Godwit, 2002

Auckland Art Gallery Curators,Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki, The Guide, Scala, 2001.

Helen Beaglehole and Mary Trewby (eds), Dream Collectors: one hundred years of art in  New Zealand, Te Papa Press, 1998.

Elva Bett, New Zealand Art: A Modern Perspective, Reed / Methuen, 1986.

Don Binney, ‘Landscape Reassertions - Some Auckland Artists’, Art New Zealand, 48, 1988.

Roger Blackley, Two Centuries of New Zealand Landscape Art,  Auckland City Art Gallery, 1990.

Warwick Brown, 100 New Zealand Paintings,
Godwit, 1995.

Peter Cape, New Zealand Painting Since 1960, Collins, Auckland, 1978.

Elizabeth Caughey and John Gow, Contemporary New Zealand Art 3, David Bateman, 2002.

Frank Dickinson, New Zealand Drawing,
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 1982.

Gil Docking and Michael Dunn, Two Hundred Years of New Zealand Painting, David Bateman, 1990.

Michael Dunn, A Concise History of New Zealand Painting, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1995.

Michael Dunn, ‘As Far as the Eye Can See’, Art New Zealand 62, 1992.

Michael Dunn, The Persuasion of the Real, New Objectivity, 1995.

Kerry Fowler,In Separate Rooms: TVNZ documentary, Kaleidoscope, July 30, 1983.

Kevin Ireland, ‘Liberal Persuasion’,
Art New Zealand,76,1995.

Alexa M Johnston, Contemporary New Zealand Realist Paintings,  exhibition catalogue,Auckland City Art Gallery, 1979.

New Zealand Drawing, Auckland City Art Gallery 1976

Brett Levine, Revisioning the Real, Lopdell House Gallery, 1998

‘Peter Siddell talks to Art New Zealand’,  Art New Zealand, 43, 1987

Julie Roberts, Peter Siddell: From The Isthmus,   Artis Gallery, 1994.

Urban Memory - The Paintings of Peter Siddell  Robert McDougall Art Gallery, 1981

Richard Wolfe- Peter Siddell's Perspective on the Alps, Art New Zealand, 98, 2001
This article is on line (November 2007) at www.art-newzealand.com