ART GALLERIES

The history of art galleries in New Zealand is a record of the struggles in the various cities and towns to establish, staff, and finance buildings to house permanent art collections. In most cases the history of the gallery is closely linked with that of the local art society which was usually formed first. It will be seen that, in a number of cases, the art society and the art gallery merged their interests and became almost inseparable. Elsewhere the society and the gallery have gone their separate ways and have remained wholly independent. A spirit of somewhat dogged independence is manifested in the absence of any completely representational body in the visual arts. There is no lack of cooperation between art galleries when matters of common interest are being negotiated but Auckland and Dunedin are the only main centres whose galleries are represented on the Art Galleries and Museums Association of New Zealand. Most art galleries in New Zealand are based on the typical British gallery which is designed to display paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture but not objects of art, and this absence of the art museum has no doubt tended to keep the two types of institution separate.

For some reason art societies tend to assume provincial designations (the Otago Art Society); art galleries the city (Dunedin Public Art Gallery); while some record the name of the donor (the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch). Wellington is the home of the National Art Gallery but there is no Wellington city gallery. What was, in effect, a Wellington gallery, the Gallery of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in Whitmore Street, was abandoned in 1936 when the National Art Gallery was founded. It was believed at the time that the city could not adequately support two galleries.

National Art Gallery Wellington

Officially opened in 1936, the National Art Gallery occupies the first floor of the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum building, the ground floor housing the museum collections. Symmetrically opposite the main entrance to the gallery, through the sculpture hall, is the identical entrance to the Gallery of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. The relationship between these two institutions is frequently misunderstood.

In 1936 the New Zealand Academy, a prime mover in the foundation of a National Art Gallery, sold its own gallery in Whitmore Street and devoted the proceeds of the sale, its art collection, and its building fund to the National Gallery. In return it was granted accommodation in perpetuity within the Gallery. The Academy remains, however, a distinct and separate institution. The National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum Act 1930 confirmed previous legislation and constituted the present administration by a board of trustees with separate management committees for the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum.

Finance is provided by annual grants from the Government and from the Wellington City Council, the Wellington Harbour Board, the Lower Hutt City Council, and other adjacent local bodies. Works of art are purchased from the Sir Harold Beauchamp and T. Lindsay Buick bequests, grants from the Government, and the Wellington City Council and, from time to time, from the T. G. Macarthy Trust. The largest grant, £1,000, is made by the Wellington City Council.

The main collection is confined to contemporary paintings, drawings, and sculpture by British and foreign, and by New Zealand and Australian artists. Separate categories include the Sir Harold Beauchamp, T. Lindsay Buick, Archdeacon Smythe, N. Chevalier, J. C. Richmond and William Swainson collections. The Gallery is particularly rich in graphic art, thanks to gift collections from Bishop Monrad, Sir John Ilott, and Rex Nan Kivell.

The Gallery arranges the itinerary of numerous loan exhibitions from overseas, maintains an active educational programme and, from 1950 till 1960, administered the National Gallery Travelling Scholarship in October. Eru D. Gore was secretary-manager from 1936 till his death in 1948 when S. B. Maclennan was appointed the first director. This was the first appointment in New Zealand of a full-time art gallery director.

Auckland City Art Gallery

Opened in 1887, the Auckland City Art Gallery was the first in New Zealand. The original Grey Collection presented in 1861 to the citizens of Auckland by Sir George Grey was supplemented in 1885 by the bequest of the collection of James Tannock Mackelvie who also left a sum of money in trust to the city.

Accommodation in the combined art gallery and public library building became inadequate for the growing collections and in 1911 the space occupied by the municipal offices was added to the gallery and in 1916 a large new gallery was added.

The Auckland City Art Gallery is administered and financed by the Auckland City Council. The gallery was under the care of the City Librarian, John Barr, from 1913 till 1952, when Eric Westbrook was appointed director of the gallery. He was succeeded in 1956 by Peter Tomory. Under these two directors the gallery has been modernised and completely refurbished. Activities include a comprehensive exhibitions programme, lectures, classes, and films. An organisation of friends, the Art Gallery Associates, was formed in 1956. Peter Tomory resigned from the directorship in 1964.

The collection includes European Old Masters, twentieth century paintings, sculpture, drawings, and prints by European artists, and New Zealand art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There is a fine Frances Hodgkins collection and the Mackelvie Collection of Japanese prints. The Mackelvie and Edmiston are two important bequests.

The Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch

This gallery, named after the donor, was officially opened in 1932. It is administered and wholly financed by the Christchurch City Council. The Art Gallery Committee is a standing committee of eight city councillors and the Mayor (ex officio), together with two co-opted members representing the Canterbury Society of Arts and the University of Canterbury School of Art. W. S. Baverstock, who has been honorary curator for years, was appointed the first director of the gallery in 1960. The main collections include European art of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, New Zealand oil paintings and watercolours (early and contemporary), a special Canterbury section, graphic art, and miniatures.

When the gallery opened, the Canterbury Society of Arts handed to the city its collection of 118 paintings, several pieces of sculpture, and a set of miniatures. The permanent collection includes a number of other gift collections and bequests. In spite of the absence of a special exhibition gallery, a constant series of loan shows is arranged with accompanying lectures and broadcasts.

Dunedin Public Art Gallery

In 1889 the city of Dunedin found itself in possession of a number of pictures purchased from the New Zealand South Seas International Exhibition as the nucleus of a civic collection but with no art gallery to house them. The newly formed Art Gallery Society solved the problem by purchasing two sections of the temporary exhibition building, a long structure of timber and corrugated iron, and had these erected at the end of the museum building. These served until 1905 when Lady McLean inspired a movement to erect a gallery which has since become the Early Settlers' Museum.

In 1925–26 an important art exhibition, a feature of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, was shown in an attractive, well designed gallery built for the purpose in Logan Park. Sir Percy and Lady Sargood purchased the building and presented it to the city as a memorial to their son killed in the First World War. This is now the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Two-thirds of the permanent collection is devoted to overseas art and includes a fine Romney and other notable British and foreign works from the eighteenth century to the present day. The other third comprises a representational collection of New Zealand art, Van der Velden's “Otira Gorge” being particularly noteworthy. There are also collections of period furniture and objets d'art. The gallery is administered for the city by a board of trustees elected by the Gallery Society and on which the City Council is represented. Income is derived mainly from City Council grants, membership subscriptions, donations, and interest on investments. Mrs Annette Pearse was appointed curator in 1945 and director in 1951. She retired in 1965 and was succeeded by J. D. Charlton Edgar.

Sarjeant Art Gallery, Wanganui

This gallery, beautifully situated in Queen's park, was officially opened in 1919, and was founded through generosity of Henry Sarjeant. The permanent collection, however, was started in 1901 when the committee of the Wanganui Arts Society, of which Mrs Sarjeant was a member, purchased the first picture for the town's collection. The gallery is maintained by the Wanganui City Council and administered by a subcommittee of the Council, with an honorary curator. The collection is mainly representative of English and New Zealand painting of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. It contains a notable gift collection from William Hesketh, first Viscount Leverhulme, and bequests from Sydney and Prudence Davis, Margaret A. Duncan, and others. An active programme of loan and temporary exhibitions is a feature of the gallery.

Bishop Suter Art Gallery, Nelson

The gallery was founded in 1898 under the Suter Art Society Act 1897, as a memorial to Andrew Burn Suter, Bishop of Nelson. The trust board was incorporated under the Charitable, Religious, and Educational Trusts Act 1908. Income derives from £1,100 grant from the Nelson City Council, interest on investments, rentals, etc. Until recently there was no staff employed, the members of the board, assisted by members of the Suter Art Society, voluntarily carried out the work of the gallery. A gallery attendant has now been appointed.

The permanent collection includes comprehensive collections of watercolours by John Gully and J. C. Richmond, and a small but stimulating contemporary section. There have been valuable recent gifts from the Contemporary Art Society enriched by the Mollie Davies Stevens Collection.

Apart from the Suter Art Society exhibitions, the board arranges a number of loan exhibitions from local and other sources.

Invercargill Public Art Gallery

In 1951 the family of the late Sir Robert Anderson and Lady Anderson presented to the city of Invercargill for an Art Gallery the former home of their parents, a house of two storeys, Georgian in style and set in some 12 acres of parkland, surrounded by 60 acres of native bush. It is four miles north of Invercargill. The gallery is controlled by the executive of the Invercargill Public Art Gallery Society. The City Council keeps the grounds in order and makes a grant of £200 to the society. A grant from the Invercargill savings bank and members' subscriptions provide a further income.

Profits from art exhibitions staged regularly since 1944 by the art committee of the Southland University Association, together with occasional grants from the City Council and public, were used by the committee to acquire the nucleus of a civic collection. This has been steadily built up. The majority of the works are by New Zealand artists.

Southland Centennial Museum and Art Gallery

The Southland Art Gallery Trust Board has been responsible for pressing for the completion of the art gallery section of the centennial project of 1940. The Board believed that a small city gallery was still necessary in spite of the opening of the gallery at Anderson Park in 1951.

A gallery 50 ft by 40 ft, with adjacent office and storeroom, has been added to the museum building in Queen's Park and was opened in 1961. A small collection of original paintings will be supplemented by a comprehensive selection of high quality reproductions for educational displays.

Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru

The property, in Wai-iti Road, was given to the citizens of Timaru by J. W. Grant in 1956. The grounds, about two acres, are maintained as a park, the residence being used for the display of works of art. The gallery is administered and financed by the Timaru City Council. A small permanent collection of paintings, drawings, prints, and ceramics is enlarged from time to time by purchases, gifts, or bequests. Suitable travelling exhibitions are shown at the gallery.

by Stewart Bell Maclennan, A.R.C.A.(LOND.), Director, National Art Gallery, Wellington.