Stanley Palmer ONZM (b. 1936, Turua near Thames, Aotearoa New Zealand) is one of New Zealand’s most esteemed landscape painters and printmakers, whose work has defined and enriched the visual language of Aotearoa’s coastlines, rural expanses and cultural memory for more than six decades. Palmer lives and works in Mt Eden, Auckland, and has exhibited continuously since 1958, establishing a prolific career that bridges painting, innovative printmaking and deep engagement with place. 

After studying art and specialist teaching at Dunedin Technical College in the late 1950s, Palmer taught art before turning to full‑time professional practice in 1969 following a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council grant. His early printmaking repertoire included woodcuts, monoprints and his distinctive bamboo engravings, a unique process combining engraving and lithography on bamboo plates that results in a fractured picture plane emblematic of his style. 

Palmer’s imagery is rooted in the New Zealand landscape, especially coastal scenes, offshore islands, native vegetation and remote terrains. His work evokes memory, environmental presence and cultural history, often capturing the subtle interplay of tonal light, land and sea. Across painting and print, he explores themes of colonisation, conservation and humanity’s connection with the land, creating compositions that feel both familiar and resonant with personal and collective history. 

He has had numerous solo exhibitions at major galleries throughout Aotearoa and abroad, including in recent years the Chart of Aotearoa series shows at Melanie Roger Gallery and Near & Far at Waiheke Community Art Gallery (December 2025–February 2026), which survey his expansive vision of New Zealand’s geography, memory and light. 

Palmer’s works are held in key public collections including the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū and many others nationwide. In recognition of his contribution to the arts, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in the 2001 Queen’s Birthday Honours. 

In addition to his visual practice, Palmer has authored and been featured in major monographs such as West (2000) and East (2009), and his publications include To the Harbour (2007), combining art and narrative rooted in his lived experience of Aotearoa’s coastal histories.