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.

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.

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.

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.

In 1959 the South Canterbury Art Society offered prizes for oil and watercolour paintings which were won by Sheila Jenkins, £100 (oil painting); Eric Lee-Johnson, £75 (watercolour); the judge was W. A. Sutton, of Christchurch.

In 1959 art prizes were awarded in connection with the Hawke's Bay Centennial Celebrations. H. R. Holt donated prizes of £250 and 75 for the best oil painting and watercolour respectively. These were won by Juliet Peter (oil) and Eric Lee-Johnson (watercolour); the judges were J. Burnell and S. B. Maclennan.

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

In September 1964, Sir Henry Kelliher, as chairman of directors of the Dawson Printing Co. Ltd., announced a watercolour competition sponsored by his company. Prizes of £200 (first) and 50 (second) were offered for the best watercolours submitted, depicting a subject of the artist's choice relative to New Zealand and not painted in an abstract manner. The competition is planned to be held in Auckland in April 1965. The judge or judges were not named in the original announcement.

The Hay's Art Competition, 1960, offered three prizes (£300, 150, and 50) for the best paintings submitted. The prizes were donated by Hay's Ltd. of Christchurch. The judges, Messrs Russell Clark (q. v.). Peter Tomory, and John Simpson bracketed the winners, and equal awards were made to Colin McCahon, Julian Royds, and Francis L. Jones.

Main prizes in the second Hay's Art Competition, 1962, were, oil painting, first (£250), Peter McIntyre; second (£100), Joan Macarthur; watercolour, first (£100), Stewart Maclennan; second (£50), Astrid Stevens; sculpture (£50), Innes L. Elliott; Sir Daryl Lindsay, Australia, was the sole judge.

In 1963 first prize (oils), T. A. Field; second, Mary Darwin. First in watercolours was P. F. Noonan, with C. V. Wheeler second. The judge was G. Thomson, Australia. No competition was held in 1964.

In 1958 the National Bank of New Zealand sponsored a competition for a design for a mural to be executed for one of the Bank's branch offices. This was won by Thomas A. Coomber; Judges–C. R. H. Taylor, R. C. Muston, S. B. Maclennan.

A second competition in 1960 included, with the mural award (increased to £500), a prize for a watercolour of a New Zealand landscape. Mural, Leonard C. Mitchell; watercolour, first, Peter McIntyre; second, David Barker; third, Austen A. Deans; Judges–F. V. Ellis, Nugent Welch, R. C. Muston.

Winners in the third competition, 1962, were, Mural, David Barker; watercolour, first, S. B. Maclennan; second, Robin Kay; third, Cyril Whiteoak; Judges–James Turkington, H. V. Miller, E. Mervyn Taylor, and R. C. Muston.

Winners in the fourth competition, 1963, were, Mural, Susan Chaytor; Watercolour, first, S. B. Maclennan;second Juliet Peter; third, W.M. Barraud. Judges–Vernon Brown, R. C. Muston, E. Mervyn Taylor and Colin V. Wheeler.

Winners for 1964 Competition were, Mural, Colin Wheeler, merit awards (£25) to Celina Ballantyne, David Barker, Mavis Cullen, Susan Chaytor; watercolour (£100 prize), Avis Higgs; second, Peter McIntyre; third, Colin Wheeler. Judges–R. C. Muston. A. A. Deans, S.B. Maclennan.

For 1965 the prize for the Mural Section stands at £500, and the judges may make up three special awards to the total value of £150. In the Watercolour Section the prizes have been increased to £200 (£100) first prize, £100 (£60) second prize, and £50 (£40) third prize. Winners for 1965 Competition were, Mural, Rodger Harrison; watercolour, first, Eric Lee-Johnson, second, Peter McIntyre, third, George Packwood. Judges–R. C. Muston, H. V. Miller, and S. B. Maclennan.

Awards have been made as follows:

1956, prize (£500), Leonard C. Mitchell; Judges–Mrs A. Pearse (Dunedin), E. Buckmaster (Australia), and P. Tomory (Auckland).

1957, first prize £500, Arthur C. Hipwell; second, Douglas Badcock; third, Peter McIntyre; Judges–Robert Johnson (Australia), S. B. Maclennan (Wellington).

1958, first, Leonard C. Mitchell; second, George Packwood; Judge–Napier Waller (Australia).

1959, first, Peter McIntyre;second, Douglas Badcock; third, Paul Olds; Judge–William Dargie (Australia).

1960, first, Owen R. Lee; second, David J. Barker; third, Peter McIntyre; Judge–Rubery Bennett (Australia).

1961, first, Cedric Savage; second, Don Neilson; third, Peter McIntyre. Junior prize (£100), David Barker; Judge–William Dargie (Australia).

1962, first, Austen A. Deans; second, Emerson Porter; third, Douglas Badcock. Junior prize, Derek Ball and John Fijn (equal). Judge–Douglass Pratt (Australia).

1963, first, Austen A. Deans; second. Peggy Spicer; third. Peter Mclntyre. Junior prize, J. P. Horner. Judge–John Loxton (Australia).

1964, no competition.

The major art award provided by the New Zealand Government has been the National Art Gallery Travelling Scholarship, awarded annually to an art student between 21 and 30, who had shown exceptional ability and promise. The award, valued at £500 per annum, entitled the winner to three years' study overseas, the normal period for a complete course at one of the senior institutions; in suitable cases it could be extended to a fourth year. Formerly, a liaison was maintained with the Association of New Zealand Art Societies to coordinate the scholarship with the fellowship awarded by the Association, but this scholarship has been discontinued by the recently appointed Arts Advisory Council. The followingawards and grants, 1951–62, have been made: 1951 Paul Olds, Royal College of Art (painting); 1953 Thomas Coomber, Slade School, London (painting); 1955 Michael C. Browne, Royal College of Art (painting); 1957 John Drawbridge, L.C.C. Central School (engraving); William Culbert, Royal College of Art (painting); 1960 Ian McG. Mackintosh, Slade School (painting).

Grants from the fund were made also to Guy Ngan (Royal College of Art 1952–56 sculpture); Alfred Drury (1951–53 painting); and to Barrie Bates, Royal College of Art (1959–62 industrial design).

Since 1947 the New Zealand Government has provided funds for annual fellowships, valued at £500 per annum, awarded by the Association of New Zealand Art Societies. The fellowship could be granted for either one or two years to a practising artist or craftsman to enable him to undertake an approved project or course of study, either in New Zealand or overseas. Fellowship awards were discontinued as from 1961 on the advice of the Arts Advisory Council.

The following awards have been made:

Apart from these Government grants, a number of art competitions have been sponsored by private individuals or business concerns. The generous prizes offered have attracted enormous entries and lively public interest, but their benefit to artists diminishes with repetition and the multiplication of competitions. Each competition tends to attract a distinct type of work and the prizes are apt to circulate round a limited number of artists who excel in the particular mode favoured. One of the most valuable and best known is the Kelliher Art Prize awarded by H. J. Kelliher for the best landscape in oils of a typical New Zealand landscape which must be “a realistic or natural representation”. This award has been administered annually since 1956 by the New Zealand Fellowship of Artists. The first competition was conducted in the Auckland City Art Gallery and subsequent ones in the gallery of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. After the 1961 competition, Kelliher announced that a Trust would be established to administer future awards.