City Gallery Te Whare Toi is a public art gallery in Wellington, New Zealand.

History

City Gallery Te Whare Toi began its life as the Wellington City Art Gallery on 23 September 1980 in a former office block located at 65 Victoria Street, now the site of

Wellington Central Library Wellington Central Library ( mi, Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui) is a public library building in the central business district of Wellington, in New Zealand. It is owned by Wellington City Council and is listed as a Category 1 historic place by Herit ...

. The first exhibition was a group show of Wellington artists. In 1989, as work began on the new Wellington Library and Civic Centre, the gallery relocated to the other side of Victoria Street to occupy the old Chews Lane Post Office for four years until 1993 when it was rebranded as City Gallery and moved to its present location on the north-eastern side of

Civic Square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

. Since 1995, City Gallery has been managed on behalf of the Wellington City Council by the Wellington Museums Trust which now trades as Experience Wellington.

The current building

City Gallery currently occupies the former Wellington Central Library building. Built in 1940 in an Art Deco style, this building replaced the original red brick City Library of 1893. When the Wellington Central Library relocated to its new

Ian Athfield Sir Ian Charles Athfield (15 July 1940 – 16 January 2015) was a New Zealand architect. He was born in Christchurch and graduated from the University of Auckland in 1963 with a Diploma of Architecture. That same year he joined Structon Group A ...

-designed building in 1991, the building underwent a major refurbishment so it could meet the needs of a contemporary art gallery. The Gallery’s window installation was installed in 1994. ‘''Fault’'' is by Bill Culbert and Ralph Hotere and consists of two strips of neon light cutting diagonally across the building. A significant addition built in 2008-2009 added two new galleries for emerging Wellington, Maori and Pacific art along with a 135-seat auditorium.

Directors

The first Director was

Seddon Bennington Seddon Leonard Bennington (8 October 1947 – c. 11 July 2009) was a New Zealand museum executive (management), executive. Bennington was the chief executive of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the national museum of New Zealand, from ...

, who went on to be the second Chief Executive of Te Papa. He was followed in 1982 by Ann Philbin who described the challenge of the Gallery’s cramped quarters on Victoria Street, “When you work from a gallery that is not beautiful or grand—that does not even have a fridge or public toilets for functions—you have to sell your ideas.” Philbin was followed by John Leuthart in1985 who appointed the Gallery’s first curator Gregory Burke two years later. Paula Savage became Director in 1990 and oversaw the Gallery’s move to the current location and its rebranding as City Gallery. The rebranding cemented a long-term relationship with the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi resulting in a number of award winning ads. In 2009 Savage was responsible for one of the Gallery’s most popular exhibitions: ''Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years'' with an attendance of 88,155. The same year she appointed City Gallery’s first Curator of Māori and Pacific Art Reuben Friend. Elizabeth Caldwell followed Savage who left the Gallery in 2011 after twenty-two years as its director.

Exhibitions

1982 ''Greer Twiss: a Survey 1959 – 1981'' curated by the Director Seddon Bennington was the first major touring exhibition instituted by the Gallery. 1986 ''David Hockney: Hockney’s Photographs'' was the first of many popular international exhibitions and City Gallery’s first fee-paying show. To accommodate it, the Gallery was required to install air conditioning to meet international conservation standards. 1986 ''Karanga Karanga'' was the first public art museum exhibition in New Zealand of collaborative works by wāhine artists. ''Listener'' reviewer Georgina Kamiria Kirby described it as, “An exhibition done by Māori women, about Māori women, for Māori women” 1990 ''Now See Hear! Art, Language and Translation'' was the most ambitious exhibition attempted by City Gallery up to that time. Curated by Gregory Burke and

Ian Wedde Ian Curtis Wedde (born 17 October 1946) is a New Zealand poet, fiction writer, critic, and art curator. Biography Born in Blenheim, New Zealand, Wedde lived in East Pakistan and England as a child before returning to New Zealand. He attended ...

to mark 150 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, it featured 236 New Zealand and international artists. 1993 ''Rosemarie Trockel'' was the first exhibition City Gallery toured outside New Zealand when it travelled to the MCA in Sydney. It was curated by Gregory Burke and opened City Gallery’s new building in Civic Square. Alongside the Rosemarie Trockel exhibition were four shows of women artists: ''Alter/Image,'' ''Te Whare Puanga'', and Jacqueline Fraser’s project ''He Tohu: The New Zealand Room''. ''Alter/Image'' surveyed twenty years of work by New Zealand women artists. In 1998 City Gallery worked with the acclaimed Dutch curator Rudi Fuchs to present ''The Exhibition of the Century: Modern Masters from the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam'' which included artists ranging from Vincent van Gogh to Jeff Koons. In 2006 a major exhibition by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini'' ''attracted a record audience for the time of 120,000. Since opening at its current location in 1993, City Gallery has also hosted monographic exhibitions of many other major international artists including Tracey Emin, Keith Haring,

Rosalie Gascoigne Rosalie Norah King Gascoigne (née Walker; 25 January 191725 October 1999) was a New Zealand-born Australian sculptor and assemblage artist. She showed at the Venice Biennale in 1982, becoming the first female artist to represent Australia there ...

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...

and Diego Rivera, Tracey Moffatt,

Sidney Nolan Sir Sidney Robert Nolan (22 April 191728 November 1992) was one of Australia's leading artists of the 20th century. Working in a wide variety of mediums, his oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known ...

, Bridget Riley, Sam Taylor Wood, Salla Tykkä,

Stanley Spencer Sir Stanley Spencer, CBE RA (30 June 1891 – 14 December 1959) was an English painter. Shortly after leaving the Slade School of Art, Spencer became well known for his paintings depicting Biblical scenes occurring as if in Cookham, the small ...

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Docum ...

as well as New Zealand's own Laurence Aberhart, Rita Angus,

Shane Cotton Shane William Cotton (born 3 October 1964) is a New Zealand painter whose work explores biculturalism, colonialism, cultural identity, Māori spirituality, and life and death. Life Cotton was born in Upper Hutt with Ngāpuhi iwi affiliations ...

Tony Fomison Tony Fomison (12 July 1939 – 7 February 1990) was a notable artist in New Zealand. He was an important post-war visual artist in the country and influenced New Zealand art by incorporating elements of narrative and myth into contemporary a ...

Bill Hammond William Hammond (29 August 1947 – 30 January 2021) was a New Zealand artist who was part of the Post-colonial Gothic movement at the end of the 1990s. He lived and worked in Lyttelton, New Zealand. The theme of his works centred around the env ...

, Ralph Hotere, Ronnie van Hout, Melvin Day, Martin Thompson, and

Boyd Webb Boyd Webb (born 1947) is a New Zealand-born visual artist who works in the United Kingdom, mainly using the medium of photography although he has also produced sculpture and film. He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1988. He has had solo ...

. A full list of exhibitions, catalogues and relevant commentary is hosted on City Gallery’s Past Exhibitions page.

Controversies

In 1995 a petition by the Christian Heritage Party collected 2829 signatures and an advertisement was placed in an unsuccessful but controversial attempt to close the ''

Robert Mapplethorpe Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-p ...

'' ''Retrospective'' exhibition at City Gallery. In March 1999, the same group tried to have the Keith Haring exhibition closed. They suggested that the police should photograph everybody visiting the exhibition, and complained that although the catalogue accompanying the exhibition was classed as unrestricted by the Office of Film and Literature Classification, the exhibition itself featured works of sodomy and bestiality that were not suitable for families. The party then submitted 18 works to the Office of Film and Literature Classification, but the case was not heard until after the exhibition closed. The censor classified five of the submitted works from the exhibition as "objectionable unless restricted to people over 13 or children accompanied by a parent or guardian". Early in 2021, Experience Wellington announced a restructuring process which included changes to the staffing of City Gallery, the disestablishment of the role of a dedicated director, and the removal of the senior curator Robert Leonard. The restructure proved controversial, and although questioned by the Mayor and opposed by senior members of the wider arts community, it was fully implemented and the role of Director disestablished.

References

External links

''Wellington's Old Buildings'', David Kernohoran, Victoria University Press 1994, , page 184
City Gallery Wellington

Wellington Museums Trust
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Wellington City Gummer and Ford buildings and structures Tourist attractions in Wellington City Art museums and galleries in New Zealand 1940s architecture in New Zealand Wellington Central, Wellington