The art and science of New Zealand's first design textbook

David Con Hutton and Arthur Dewhurst Riley were responsible for introducing industrial design education into New Zealand-Hutton to Dunedin in 1870 and Riley to Wellington in 1885. Both were graduates of the South Kensington system that recognised the art and science of design through the convergence of drawing from nature. While Riley's contribution was research-informed political advocacy for the educational recognition of drawing and design, Hutton sought to educate, putting theory into practice from primary through to tertiary education. Hutton produced a series of Freehand Drawing books for schools in Scotland and England while teaching at the Dundee School of Art. This paper will examine the first design textbook for New Zealand, 'Second Grade Freehand Drawing' by David Con Hutton in 1881, the only known surviving copy of which is held in the Hocken Collections. It will compare the exercises to those available in Poynter's 'South Kensington Drawing-Book' and examine anonymous student examples based on Hutton's exercises, as well as the sketchbooks of Hutton's daughter and son, Nellie and Lorne, who were drawn respectively to the art and science of drawing. Through close analysis of a single book, its means of publication, circulation through industrial exhibitions, and student application of the exercises, this paper will reflect on the challenges and opportunities of design education in 19th-century New Zealand, and the degree to which Hutton's book contributed to drawing out the idea of design in, and for New Zealand.