Auckland Art Gallery
Encyclopedia
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland
, New Zealand
and has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand. It frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions.
Set below the hilltop Albert Park
in the central-city area of Auckland, the gallery was established in 1888 as the first permanent art gallery in New Zealand. The NEW Gallery, across the road from the main gallery, shows contemporary art. It is located in the former Auckland Telephone Exchange Building which was converted in 1995 into a rather daring fusion of Edwardian and contemporary architecture.
(Speaker of the House of Representatives) and others, the building of a combined Art Gallery & Library was made necessary by the promise of significant bequests from two major benefactors; former colonial governor Sir George Grey
, and James Tannock Mackelvie. Grey had promised books for a municipal library as early as 1872 and eventually donated large numbers of manuscripts, rare books and paintings from his collection to the Auckland Gallery & Library [in all over 12,500 items including 53 paintings]. He also gave material to Capetown, where he had also been governor. The Grey bequest includes works by Caspar Netscher
, Henry Fuseli
, William Blake
and David Wilkie
.
Mackelvie was a businessman who had retained an interest in Auckland affairs after returning to Britain. In the early 1880s he announced a gift of 105 framed watercolours, oil paintings, and a collection of ink & pencil drawings. His gift eventually amounted to 140 items including paintings, decorative arts, ceramics and furniture from his London residence, these form the core of the Mackelvie Trust Collection which is shared between the Auckland City Art Gallery, the Public Library and the Auckland Museum. Mackelvie's will stipulated a separate gallery to display his bequest, this was not popular with the Council but a special room was dedicated to the collection in 1893 and eventually the top lit Mackelvie Gallery was built in 1916. The Mackelvie Trust continues to purchase art works to add to its collection which now includes significant 20th century bronzes by Archipenko, Bourdelle, Epstein
, Moore
and Elisabeth Frink
.
and material from the Middle Ages
to the present day. Notable New Zealand artists with extensive representation include Gretchen Albrecht
, Marti Friedlander
, C.F. Goldie, Alfred Henry O'Keeffe
, Frances Hodgkins
, Gottfried Lindauer
and Colin McCahon
. Some of these works were donated by the artists themselves.
In 1915 a collection of paintings of Mäori by Gottfried Lindauer
was donated to the Gallery by Henry Partridge, an Auckland businessman. He made the gift on the proviso that the people of Auckland raise 10,000 pounds for the Belgium Relief Fund. The money was raised within a few weeks.
Another major benefactor was Lucy Carrington Wertheim. Miss Wertheim was an Art Gallery owner in London and through her support of expatriate artist Frances Hodgkins bestowed on the Auckland Art Gallery a representative collection of British paintings from the interwar period. Her gifts in 1948 and 1950 totalled 154 works by modern British artists including Christopher Wood
, Frances Hodgkins
, Phelan Gibb
, R.O Dunlop & Alfred Wallis
. The Wertheim collection was initially displayed in a separate room opened by the Mayor J.A.C Allum on December 2, 1948.
In 1953 Rex Nan Kivell
donated an important collection of prints including work by George French Angas
, Sydney Parkinson
, Nicholas Chevalier
, and Augustus Earle
. The 1960s saw the arrival of the Watson Bequest, a collection of European medieval art. In 1967 the Spencer collection of early English and New Zealand Water colours was donated, this included early New Zealand views by John Gully
, John Hoyt
, and John Kinder. In 1982 on the death of Dr Walter Auburn, print collector and valued adviser to the Gallery's prints and drawings department, the Mackelvie Trust received his magnificent collection of over one and a half thousand prints including work by Callot, Piranesi, della Bella and Hollar.
In 1952 Eric Westbrook was appointed as the first full-time director of the Art Gallery [previously the Head Librarian was formally in charge of both the Gallery and Library] He was succeeded in 1955 by Peter Tomory who stayed until 1965. Both men sought to revitalise the Gallery and introduce modern art to a largely conservative public in the face of resistance from a largely hostile City Council. The 1956 Spring Exhibition 'Object and Image' showed works by modern artists such as John Weeks
, Louise Henderson
, Milan Mrkusich, Colin McCahon
, Kase Jackson & Ross Fraser. Other controversial exhibitions including Henry Moore
and Barbara Hepworth
resulted in serious confrontation between the Council and Tomory resulting in his resignation.
Tomory's intended purchase of Hepworth's Torso II in 1963 [likened by one councillor to 'the buttock of a dead cow'] changed the climate of art and culture in New Zealand. Even the conservative NZ Herald pointed out to its readers "it is no function of an Art Gallery to be stuffed with exhibits which everyone can comprehend". The Bronze statue was privately bought by local businessman George Wooler and anonymously donated to the Gallery.
architects Grainger & Charles D'Ebro
to house not only the Art gallery but also the City Council Offices, Lecture Theatre and Public Library. It is constructed of brick and plaster in an early French Renaissance
style and was completed in 1887, with an extension built in 1916. It is three storeys high, with an attic in the steep pitched roofs, and a six storey clock tower. The building was registered as a Category I heritage item by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust
on 24 November 1983, listed with registration number 92.
The new building eventually proved too small to house all the Council departments and overflow space in the Customs House in Customs Street was found to be necessary. Following the completion of the Auckland Town Hall in 1911 all Council departments left the Gallery building allowing expansion of Gallery facilities including extra workshop space for art classes. Several artists maintained studio space in the complex during the period just after the war; the weaver Ilse von Randow utilised the clock tower rooms and created onsite the Art Gallery Ceremonial curtains, executed as part of the 1950s modernisation. In 1969 the art classes and studios were relocated to Ponsonby where a decommissioned Police Station by John Campbell
at 1 Ponsonby Road was relaunched as 'Artstation' which continues the gallery outreach programmes.
From 1969 to 1971 the building underwent remodelling and a new wing and sculpture garden were added. This was the result of the lavish Philip Edmiston bequest which had been announced in 1946, which had stipulated the building of a new gallery. In 1971 the Public library was moved to the new Auckland Public Library building by Ewen Wainscott in nearby Lorne Street.
In the late 2000s, a major extension was mooted, which caused substantial criticism from some quarters due to its cost, design and the fact that land from Albert Park would be required for the extension. In 2008, Council decided to go ahead with the extension, which finished in 2011 for a total of NZ$113 million, of which Auckland City Council
contributed just under NZ$50 million. The expansion increased exhibition space by 50%, for up to 900 artworks, and provided dedicated education, child and family spaces. As part of the upgrade, existing parts of the structure were renovated and restored to its 1916 state - amongst other things ensuring that the 17 different floor levels in the building eree reduced to just 6.
One of the sealed entrances to the Albert Park tunnels
can be found behind the Art Gallery on Wellesley Street.
The redeveloped Gallery building re-opened on 3 September 2011.
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand. It frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions.
Set below the hilltop Albert Park
Albert Park, Auckland
Albert Park is a scenic park in central Auckland, bounded by Wellesley Street East, Princes Street, Bowen Avenue and Kitchener Street. From the entrance at the corner of Bowen Ave and Kitchener St, sealed footpaths climb steeply through native trees to the large flat area at the summit, where...
in the central-city area of Auckland, the gallery was established in 1888 as the first permanent art gallery in New Zealand. The NEW Gallery, across the road from the main gallery, shows contemporary art. It is located in the former Auckland Telephone Exchange Building which was converted in 1995 into a rather daring fusion of Edwardian and contemporary architecture.
History
Throughout the 1870s many people in Auckland felt the city needed a municipal facility but the newly established Auckland City Council was unwilling to commit funds to such a project. Following pressure by such eminent people as Sir Maurice O'RorkeMaurice O'Rorke
Sir George Maurice O’Rorke was a New Zealand politician, representing the Auckland seat of Onehunga, and later Manukau, and was Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was a committed provincialist and was the eighth Superintendent of the Auckland Province...
(Speaker of the House of Representatives) and others, the building of a combined Art Gallery & Library was made necessary by the promise of significant bequests from two major benefactors; former colonial governor Sir George Grey
George Edward Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...
, and James Tannock Mackelvie. Grey had promised books for a municipal library as early as 1872 and eventually donated large numbers of manuscripts, rare books and paintings from his collection to the Auckland Gallery & Library [in all over 12,500 items including 53 paintings]. He also gave material to Capetown, where he had also been governor. The Grey bequest includes works by Caspar Netscher
Caspar Netscher
Caspar Netscher was a Dutch portrait and genre painter. He was a master in depicting oriental rugs, silk and brocade and introduced an international style to the Northern Netherlands.-Life:...
, Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli was a British painter, draughtsman, and writer on art, of Swiss origin.-Biography:...
, William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
and David Wilkie
David Wilkie (artist)
Sir David Wilkie was a Scottish painter.- Early life :Wilkie was the son of the parish minister of Cults in Fife. He developed a love for art at an early age. In 1799, after he had attended school at Pitlessie, Kettle and Cupar, his father reluctantly agreed to his becoming a painter...
.
Mackelvie was a businessman who had retained an interest in Auckland affairs after returning to Britain. In the early 1880s he announced a gift of 105 framed watercolours, oil paintings, and a collection of ink & pencil drawings. His gift eventually amounted to 140 items including paintings, decorative arts, ceramics and furniture from his London residence, these form the core of the Mackelvie Trust Collection which is shared between the Auckland City Art Gallery, the Public Library and the Auckland Museum. Mackelvie's will stipulated a separate gallery to display his bequest, this was not popular with the Council but a special room was dedicated to the collection in 1893 and eventually the top lit Mackelvie Gallery was built in 1916. The Mackelvie Trust continues to purchase art works to add to its collection which now includes significant 20th century bronzes by Archipenko, Bourdelle, Epstein
Jacob Epstein
Sir Jacob Epstein KBE was an American-born British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British citizen in 1911. He often produced controversial works which challenged taboos on what was appropriate subject matter...
, Moore
Moore
Moore may refer to:* Moore , a crater on Venus* Moore , lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon* Moore , a common English-language surname* People with surname Moore...
and Elisabeth Frink
Elisabeth Frink
Dame Elisabeth Jean Frink, DBE, CH, RA was an English sculptor and printmaker...
.
The Collection
The Auckland Gallery collection was initially dominated by European old master paintings following the standard taste of the 19th century. Today the collection has expanded to include a wider variety of periods, styles and media, and numbers over 15,000 artworks. Many New Zealand and Pacific artists are represented, as well as EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and material from the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
to the present day. Notable New Zealand artists with extensive representation include Gretchen Albrecht
Gretchen Albrecht
Gretchen Albrecht, CNZM, is a major New Zealand painter.Gretchen Albrecht was born in Onehunga, and attended the University of Auckland Elam School of Fine Arts, graduating in 1963. She received grants from the QE II Arts foundation in 1976, 1978 and 1986, and travelled and worked extensively in...
, Marti Friedlander
Marti Friedlander
Marti Friedlander is a New Zealand photographer.Born in England to Russian Jewish immigrants, from the age of three she was raised in orphanages. She married a New Zealander and emigrated to New Zealand in 1958...
, C.F. Goldie, Alfred Henry O'Keeffe
Alfred Henry O'Keeffe
Alfred Henry O'Keeffe , was a notable New Zealand artist and art teacher, who spent the majority of his life in Dunedin. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, he was one of the few New Zealand artists to engage with new ideas while staying in New Zealand. At this time most adventurous...
, Frances Hodgkins
Frances Hodgkins
Frances Mary Hodgkins was a painter chiefly of landscape and still life, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. She was born in New Zealand, but spent most of her working life in Britain...
, Gottfried Lindauer
Gottfried Lindauer
Gottfried Lindauer, also known as Gottfried or Bohumir Lindaur was a New Zealand artist of Czech descent famous for his portraits. Many prominent Māori chiefs commissioned his work, which accurately records their facial tattoos, clothing, ornaments and weapons. The other artist known for these...
and Colin McCahon
Colin McCahon
Colin John McCahon was a prominent New Zealand artist. During his life he also worked in art galleries and as a university lecturer...
. Some of these works were donated by the artists themselves.
In 1915 a collection of paintings of Mäori by Gottfried Lindauer
Gottfried Lindauer
Gottfried Lindauer, also known as Gottfried or Bohumir Lindaur was a New Zealand artist of Czech descent famous for his portraits. Many prominent Māori chiefs commissioned his work, which accurately records their facial tattoos, clothing, ornaments and weapons. The other artist known for these...
was donated to the Gallery by Henry Partridge, an Auckland businessman. He made the gift on the proviso that the people of Auckland raise 10,000 pounds for the Belgium Relief Fund. The money was raised within a few weeks.
Another major benefactor was Lucy Carrington Wertheim. Miss Wertheim was an Art Gallery owner in London and through her support of expatriate artist Frances Hodgkins bestowed on the Auckland Art Gallery a representative collection of British paintings from the interwar period. Her gifts in 1948 and 1950 totalled 154 works by modern British artists including Christopher Wood
Christopher Wood (English painter)
John Christopher Wood , often called Kit Wood, was an English painter born in Knowsley, near Liverpool.-Biography:-Early life:Christopher Wood was born in Knowsley to Doctor Lucius and Clare Wood...
, Frances Hodgkins
Frances Hodgkins
Frances Mary Hodgkins was a painter chiefly of landscape and still life, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. She was born in New Zealand, but spent most of her working life in Britain...
, Phelan Gibb
Phelan Gibb
Harry Phelan Gibb was a British artist influenced by the work of Paul Cézanne, who exhibited in London, Paris and New York.Born in Alnwick, Northumberland, he studied at Newcastle, Edinburgh, Antwerp and Munich as well as Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens where he lived for twenty five years.His style...
, R.O Dunlop & Alfred Wallis
Alfred Wallis
Alfred Wallis was a Cornish fisherman and artist.Wallis's parents, Charles and Jane Wallis were from Penzance in Cornwall and moved to Devonport, Devon to find work in 1850 where Alfred and his brother Charles were born. Shortly after this the children's mother died and this prompted the family to...
. The Wertheim collection was initially displayed in a separate room opened by the Mayor J.A.C Allum on December 2, 1948.
In 1953 Rex Nan Kivell
Rex Nan Kivell
Sir Rex de Charembac Nan Kivell CMG was a New Zealand-born British art collector, who was knighted on the recommendation of the government of Australia, a country he never visited, for contributing to the National Library of Australia his collection of books, paintings, prints, documents,...
donated an important collection of prints including work by George French Angas
George French Angas
George French Angas , was an English explorer, naturalist and painter.He was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the eldest son of George Fife Angas, prominent in the establishment of the new colony of South Australia. Despite showing remarkable talent in drawing, he was placed in a London...
, Sydney Parkinson
Sydney Parkinson
Sydney Parkinson was a Scottish Quaker, botanical illustrator and natural history artist.Parkinson was employed by Joseph Banks to travel with him on James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific in 1768. Parkinson made nearly a thousand drawings of plants and animals collected by Banks and Daniel...
, Nicholas Chevalier
Nicholas Chevalier
Nicholas Chevalier was an Australian artist.-Early life:Chevalier was born in St Petersburg, Russia, the son of Louis Chevalier, who came from Vaud, Switzerland, and was overseer to the estates of the Prince de Wittgenstein in Russia. Nicholas' mother was Russian...
, and Augustus Earle
Augustus Earle
Augustus Earle was a London-born travel artist. Unlike earlier artists who worked outside Europe and were employed on voyages of exploration or worked abroad for wealthy, often aristocratic patrons, Earle was able to operate quite independently - able to combine his lust for travel with an...
. The 1960s saw the arrival of the Watson Bequest, a collection of European medieval art. In 1967 the Spencer collection of early English and New Zealand Water colours was donated, this included early New Zealand views by John Gully
John Gully
John Gully was an English prize-fighter, horse racer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1837.-Early life:...
, John Hoyt
John Hoyt
John Hoyt was an American film, stage, and television actor.-Early life:Hoyt was born John McArthur Hoysradt. Before becoming an actor with Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre, the Yale University graduate worked as a history instructor, acting teacher and even a nightclub comedian...
, and John Kinder. In 1982 on the death of Dr Walter Auburn, print collector and valued adviser to the Gallery's prints and drawings department, the Mackelvie Trust received his magnificent collection of over one and a half thousand prints including work by Callot, Piranesi, della Bella and Hollar.
In 1952 Eric Westbrook was appointed as the first full-time director of the Art Gallery [previously the Head Librarian was formally in charge of both the Gallery and Library] He was succeeded in 1955 by Peter Tomory who stayed until 1965. Both men sought to revitalise the Gallery and introduce modern art to a largely conservative public in the face of resistance from a largely hostile City Council. The 1956 Spring Exhibition 'Object and Image' showed works by modern artists such as John Weeks
John Weeks (painter)
John Weeks was a Devonshire born artist who was one of the most influential staff members at the Elam Art School of the University of Auckland where he taught from 1930-1954....
, Louise Henderson
Louise Henderson
Dame Louise Etiennette Sidonie Henderson, DBE was a New Zealand artist and painter.Born in Paris, she was raised there and it was there she met her future husband Hubert Henderson, a New Zealander. Hubert returned to New Zealand in 1923 and proposed to Louise, but propriety demanded that a single...
, Milan Mrkusich, Colin McCahon
Colin McCahon
Colin John McCahon was a prominent New Zealand artist. During his life he also worked in art galleries and as a university lecturer...
, Kase Jackson & Ross Fraser. Other controversial exhibitions including Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
and Barbara Hepworth
Barbara Hepworth
Dame Barbara Hepworth DBE was an English sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism, and with such contemporaries as Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo she helped to develop modern art in Britain.-Life and work:Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was born on 10 January 1903 in Wakefield,...
resulted in serious confrontation between the Council and Tomory resulting in his resignation.
Tomory's intended purchase of Hepworth's Torso II in 1963 [likened by one councillor to 'the buttock of a dead cow'] changed the climate of art and culture in New Zealand. Even the conservative NZ Herald pointed out to its readers "it is no function of an Art Gallery to be stuffed with exhibits which everyone can comprehend". The Bronze statue was privately bought by local businessman George Wooler and anonymously donated to the Gallery.
Buildings
The main gallery building was originally designed by MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
architects Grainger & Charles D'Ebro
Charles D'Ebro
Charles Abraham D'Ebro was a London-born architect who designed many important buildings in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia during the late Victorian and early Edwardian periods...
to house not only the Art gallery but also the City Council Offices, Lecture Theatre and Public Library. It is constructed of brick and plaster in an early French Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
style and was completed in 1887, with an extension built in 1916. It is three storeys high, with an attic in the steep pitched roofs, and a six storey clock tower. The building was registered as a Category I heritage item by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust
New Zealand Historic Places Trust
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust is a non-profit trust that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage buildings in New Zealand...
on 24 November 1983, listed with registration number 92.
The new building eventually proved too small to house all the Council departments and overflow space in the Customs House in Customs Street was found to be necessary. Following the completion of the Auckland Town Hall in 1911 all Council departments left the Gallery building allowing expansion of Gallery facilities including extra workshop space for art classes. Several artists maintained studio space in the complex during the period just after the war; the weaver Ilse von Randow utilised the clock tower rooms and created onsite the Art Gallery Ceremonial curtains, executed as part of the 1950s modernisation. In 1969 the art classes and studios were relocated to Ponsonby where a decommissioned Police Station by John Campbell
John Campbell (architect)
John Campbell was an architect, responsible for many government buildings in New Zealand.Born in Scotland, he travelled to New Zealand in 1882 after training in Glasgow under John Gordon. From 1883 to his retirement in 1922 he worked for the government, holding the title of Government Architect...
at 1 Ponsonby Road was relaunched as 'Artstation' which continues the gallery outreach programmes.
From 1969 to 1971 the building underwent remodelling and a new wing and sculpture garden were added. This was the result of the lavish Philip Edmiston bequest which had been announced in 1946, which had stipulated the building of a new gallery. In 1971 the Public library was moved to the new Auckland Public Library building by Ewen Wainscott in nearby Lorne Street.
In the late 2000s, a major extension was mooted, which caused substantial criticism from some quarters due to its cost, design and the fact that land from Albert Park would be required for the extension. In 2008, Council decided to go ahead with the extension, which finished in 2011 for a total of NZ$113 million, of which Auckland City Council
Auckland City Council
Auckland City Council was the local government authority representing Auckland City, New Zealand, and was amalgamated into the Auckland Council on 1 November 2010. It was an elected body representing the 404,658 residents of the city...
contributed just under NZ$50 million. The expansion increased exhibition space by 50%, for up to 900 artworks, and provided dedicated education, child and family spaces. As part of the upgrade, existing parts of the structure were renovated and restored to its 1916 state - amongst other things ensuring that the 17 different floor levels in the building eree reduced to just 6.
One of the sealed entrances to the Albert Park tunnels
Albert Park tunnels
The Albert Park tunnels are found largely beneath Albert Park, in central Auckland, New Zealand. The tunnels were constructed as air raid shelters during the Second World War...
can be found behind the Art Gallery on Wellesley Street.
The redeveloped Gallery building re-opened on 3 September 2011.