Peter Joseph John McLeavey (21 September 1936 – 12 November 2015) was a New Zealand art dealer and advocate based in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

Early life

Born in

Raetihi Raetihi, a small town in the center of New Zealand's North Island, is located at the junction of State Highways 4 and 49 in the Manawatū-Whanganui region. It lies in a valley between Tongariro and Whanganui National Parks, 11 kilometres west ...

on 21 September 1936, McLeavey was the son of Leslie Francis McLeavey and Elizabeth Theresa McLeavey (née McTiernan). His father worked on the railways and his childhood was spent moving around railway settlements in New Zealand's North Island, including

Ohakune Ohakune is a small town at the southern end of Tongariro National Park, close to the southwestern slopes of the active volcano Mount Ruapehu, in the North Island of New Zealand. A rural service town known as New Zealand's Carrot Capital, Ohak ...

, Levin, Napier,

Feilding Feilding ( mi, Aorangi) is a town in the Manawatū District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 54, 20 kilometres north of Palmerston North. The town is the seat of the Manawatū District Council. Feilding has w ...

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

, Waitara, and

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

. He credited the beginning of his interest in art to a teacher at his high school in Waitara.

Career

Jeremy Diggle, Professor of Fine Arts at

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

, called McLeavey "the most important commercial gallerist New Zealand has ever had, effectively the pre-eminent publisher of modern New Zealand art in the past 50 years". His eponymous gallery is the longest-lived in New Zealand. McLeavey started his art dealing career in 1966, showing art in the bedroom of his apartment on central Wellington street The Terrace. His first sale was a

Toss Woollaston Sir Mountford Tosswill "Toss" Woollaston (11 April 1910 – 30 August 1998) was a New Zealand artist. He is regarded as one of the most important New Zealand painters of the 20th century. Life Born in Toko, Taranaki in 1910, Woollaston attended ...

landscape. In a 2009 documentary about his life, ''The Man in the Hat'', McLeavey stated that he set up the gallery to "feed the culture, and to expose the culture to people who didn't know about it". In 1968 he opened a gallery in two rooms on the first floor of 147 Cuba Street in

. Alongside other early emerging dealer galleries, such as

Barry Lett Galleries Barry Lett Galleries was a dealer gallery focused on contemporary New Zealand art that operated in Auckland in the 1960s and 1970s. History Barry Lett Galleries was opened in 1965 by Barry Lett (1940–2017), who had graduated from Elam Schoo ...

in Auckland, Peter McLeavey Gallery played an important role in encouraging collectors to support contemporary New Zealand artists. Among his major sales were

Colin McCahon Colin John McCahon (; 1August 191927May 1987) was a prominent New Zealand artist whose work over 45 years consisted of various styles, including landscape, figuration, abstraction, and the overlay of painted text. Along with Toss Woollaston and ...

's ''

Northland Panels ''Northland Panels'' is an eight-part landscape painted by the New Zealand artist Colin McCahon in November 1958 shortly after his first and only trip to the United States. Genesis In April 1958, Colin McCahon and his wife Anne traveled to the ...

'' to the then National Art Gallery (now the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

) in 1978. This is now seen as one of McCahon's most important works. The gallery continues to operate at that location, and more than 500 exhibitions have been mounted there. McLeavey's daughter, Olivia McLeavey, took over the running of the gallery in 2011, when his health declined. The Peter McLeavey Gallery currently represents some of New Zealand's best-known modern and contemporary artists, including

Laurence Aberhart Laurence Geoffrey Aberhart (born 1949) is a New Zealand photographer. Biography Aberhart was born in Nelson in 1949, along with three siblings, and was educated at Nelson College from 1963 to 1966.''Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–200 ...

, Bill Hammond,

Richard Killeen Richard John Killeen (born 1946) is a significant New Zealand painter, sculptor and digital artist. Biography Killeen was educated at the Elam School of Fine Arts, where his lecturers included Colin McCahon, before graduating in 1966. He has wo ...

Yvonne Todd Yvonne Todd (born 1973) is a contemporary New Zealand photographer known for her manipulation of conventional photographic techniques and genres. Early life and education Todd was born in Takapuna, Auckland. In the mid 1990s, she studied profess ...

, Robin White,

, and Jeffrey Harris. McLeavey died in Wellington on 12 November 2015 at the age of 79. In September 2018 his archive was acquired by the Alexander Turnbull Library. It will be available by request in late 2019 or 2020.

''The Man in the Hat''

In 2009, a documentary about McLeavey was released, directed by

Luit Bieringa Luit Bieringa (1942–2022) was a New Zealand art historian, art gallery director and documentary film maker. Bieringa was born in Groningen in the Netherlands and emigrated to New Zealand with his family in 1956. Museum career He was Direct ...

, produced by Jan Bieringa, and filmed by cinematographer

Leon Narbey Leon Gordon Alexander Narbey (born 2 August 1947) is a New Zealand cinematographer. Born in Helensville, Narbey was educated at the Elam School of Fine Arts, specialising in sculpture. Married Anita Janske Narbey (1944 - 2019) in 1966 and they h ...

. The documentary intersperses scenes of McLeavey going about life at home, in inner-city Wellington, and in his gallery with readings by New Zealand actor

Sam Neill Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. Neill's near-50 year career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he has been regarded as one o ...

from McLeavey's correspondence with artists.

''Peter McLeavey: The life and times of a New Zealand art dealer''

In 2013 a biography of McLeavey by

Jill Trevelyan Jill Trevelyan (born 1963) is a New Zealand art curator, reviewer, and author who specialises in 20th century New Zealand art. Her publications include the collected letters of New Zealand painter Toss Woollaston and a biography of New Zealand art ...

was published by

Te Papa Press The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring f ...

. The biography, ''Peter McLeavey: The life and times of a New Zealand art dealer'' was named the 2014

New Zealand Post Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder W ...

Book of the Year.

Honours

Massey University awarded McLeavey an

Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Doctor of Fine Arts (D.F.A.) is a doctoral degree in fine arts, may be given as an honorary degree (a degree ''honoris causa'') or an earned professional degree (in the UK). Description Doctoral programmes leading to DFAs are of equivalent leve ...

(DFA) in 2010 and he was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

for services to the arts in the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours.

Early life

Career

''The Man in the Hat''

''Peter McLeavey: The life and times of a New Zealand art dealer''

Honours

References

Further reading