Govett-Brewster Art Gallery

The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is a contemporary art museum at New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. The gallery receives core funding from the New Plymouth District Council. Govett-Brewster is recognised internationally for contemporary art.^[1]

History

The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery had its beginnings through a gift by New Plymouth resident Monica Brewster (nee Govett 1886–1973) who transferred £50,000 in stocks, funds, shares and securities to the City of New Plymouth in 1962. The fund was to establish and develop a public art gallery (in 1970, the year the gallery eventually opened, she would make a second bequest for £72,000 to start a permanent art collection).^[2]

In 1967 a 24 year old Australian teacher John Maynard arrived in New Plymouth having been appointed director to develop a contemporary art gallery. Maynard had no interest in setting up a conventional local body gallery and after touring the country saw that, “artists are where the action is.’^[3]

Maynard oversaw the Regent cinema building conversion by New Plymouth architect, Terry Boon^[4] and developed the collection policy that focused on new forms of art and sculpture fostering the development of artists from New Zealand and the Pacific Rim and allowed for the deaccessioning of unwanted items.^[5] The gallery opened on 22 February 1970 with the exhibition Real Time^[6] by Leon Narby. Art critic Hamish Keith described the installation as, 'setting New Zealand art off to the kind of start it should have in the Seventies…Real Time has as its basic mechanism real life, and that itself is a major breakthrough.’^[7]

1998 extension

The gallery opened an extension designed by New Plymouth firm Boon Cox Goldsmith Jackson in 1998. The extension was principally undertaken to provide exhibition and storage space for the Len Lye Foundation Collection along with a dedicated education space.^[8]

Len Lye Centre

Len Lye Centre, New Plymouth

The Len Lye Centre is an extension to the Govett-Brewster, built to display the works of Len Lye. It was designed by Andrew Patterson of Pattersons Associates, New Zealand. It is home to the archives and studio collection of the Len Lye Foundation.^[9] Born in Christchurch in 1901 and largely self-educated, Len Lye was driven by a lifelong passion for motion, energy and the possibility of composing them as a form of art. Lye's interests took him far from New Zealand; after sojourns in the South Pacific, Lye moved to London and then New York, where he became known as an intensely creative film-maker and kinetic sculptor.

The Len Lye Centre was opened on 25 July 2015. This is the first gallery in New Zealand to be dedicated to a single artist.^[10]

Awards

The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery has received many awards.

• 2009, the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, Governor's Award^[11]
• 2011, the Big ‘A’ Creative New Zealand Arts for All Award^[12]
• 2016, Designers Institute of New Zealand, Best Design Award, Large Brand Identity^[13]

Directors

• John Maynard, director (1967–1971)
• Robert Ballard, director (1971–1975)
• Ron O'Reilly, director (1975–1979)
• Dick Bett, director (1979–1984)
• Cheryll Sotheran, director (1984–1989)
• John McCormack, director (1990–1993)
• Priscilla Pitts, director (1993–1998)
• Gregory Burke, director (1998–2005)
• Rhana Devenport, director (2006–2013)
• Simon Rees, director (2014–2018)^[14]
• Aileen Burns and Johan Lundh, directors (2019–2020)^[15][16]
• Zara Stanhope, director (2021)^[17]

Exhibitions

The Govett-Brewster has produced a number of notable or landmark exhibitions:

• Brett Graham: Tai Moana Tai Tangata (2020, curated by Anna-Marie White)^[18]
• Emanations: The Art of the Cameraless Photograph (2016, curated by Geoffrey Batchen)^[19]
• Sister Corita's Summer of Love (2015, curated by Simon Rees)^[20]
• Vincent Ward: Breath - the fleeting intensity of life (2011, curated by Rhana Devenport)
• Peter Robinson: Snow Ball Blind Time (2008, curated by Rhana Devenport)
• Activating Korea: Tides of Collective Action (2007, curated by Mercedes Vicente and Beck Jee-sook)
• Mediarena: contemporary art from Japan (2004, curated by Gregory Burke, Roger McDonald and Fumio Nanjo)^[21]
• Fiona Clark: Go Girl (2002, curated by Gregory Burke)^[22]
• Te Maunga Taranaki: views of a mountain (2001, curated by William McAloon)^[23]
• Putting the Land on the Map: Art and Cartography in New Zealand since 1840 (1990, curated by Wystan Curnow)^[24]
• Leon Narbey: Real Time (1970)^[25]

Publications

The Govett-Brewster has produced publications to accompany many of its exhibitions alongside stand-alone texts.

In 2016 the Govett-Brewster published Now Showing: A History of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery outlining 45 years of exhibition making at the gallery. The publication was edited by Christina Barton, Jonathan Bywater and Wystan Curnow with essays by Barton, Curnow, Jim and Mary Barr, Rhana Devenport, and a foreword by then director, Simon Rees. Now Showing also included ‘Forty Five Moments’, a selection of illustrated highlights from the previous 45 years of gallery activities with accompanying texts by Paul Brobbel, Tyler Cann, Susette Goldsmith, Simon Rees and Mercedes Vicente.^[26]

Other notable releases include:

• Erika Balsom – An Oceanic Feeling: Cinema and the Sea (2018)^[27]
• Len Lye and Robert Graves – Individual Happiness Now (2017)^[28]
• Len Lye: Shadowgraphs (2016, ed. Paul Brobbel)^[29]
• Sister Corita's Summer of Love (2016, co-published with City Gallery Wellington, ed. Robert Leonard & Simon Rees)^[30]
• Set in Motion: Rebecca Baumann, Žilvinas Kempinas, Len Lye, Taree Mackenzie, Ross Manning (2016, ed. Sarah Wall)^[31]
• Maddie Leach: If you find the good oil let us know (2014, ed. Mercedes Vicente)^[32]
• Groundworks: Bill Culbert (2013, ed. Rhana Devenport)^[33]
• Points of Contact: Jim Allen, Len Lye, Hélio Oiticica (2012, published with Adam Art Gallery, ed. Christina Barton and Tyler Cann, Mercedes Vicente)^[34]
• Laurence Aberhart: Recent Taranaki Photographs (2011, ed. Paul Brobbel & Rhana Devenport)^[35]
• Len Lye (2009, co-published with the Len Lye Foundation, eds. Tyler Cann and Wystan Curnow)^[36]
• Darcy Lange: Study of an Artist At Work (2008, co-published with Ikon Gallery, ed. Mercedes Vicente)
• Pae White: Ghost Towns (2003, ed. Greg Burke)
• Te Maunga Taranaki (2001, ed. Susette Goldsmith)^[37]
• With Spirit: Don Driver (1999, ed. Greg Burke)^[38]

See also

• Puke Ariki

References

1. "2009 Recipient – Govett-Brewster Art Gallery". the Arts Foundation. 2009.
2. Shaskey, Tara (11 February 2016). "The lady behind the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery". Taranaki Daily News.
3. "Govett-Brewster Art Gallery". Arts & Community. 5. 7 July 1969.
4. "The life and times of the unstoppable architect Terry Boon". Stuff. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
5. Barr, Jim; Barr, Mary (1987). When art hits the headlines : a survey of controversial art in New Zealand. Wellington [N.Z.]: National Art Gallery in association with the Evening Post. pp. 39–40. ISBN 0-9597785-4-3. OCLC 21341543.
6. "Real Time a Light and Sound Environment". Retrieved 30 January 2003.
7. Keith, Hamish (February 1970). "Govett-Brewster Art Gallery". Arts & Community. 6 (2): 9.
8. Gooch, Mike. "Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Extension 1998". ketenewplymouth.peoplesnetworknz.info. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
9. "Govett-Brewster Art Gallery". NZContemorary. Archived from the original on 4 December 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
10. Coster, Deena (25 July 2015). "New Plymouth welcomes its Len Lye Centre with open arms". Taranaki Daily News.
11. "NZ contemporary art honoured by Arts Foundation". Scoop. 21 July 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
12. "Govett-Brewster Art Gallery wins Big 'A' Creative New Zealand Arts for All Award". www.creativenz.govt.nz. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
13. "Best Design Award – Large Brand Identity". Designers Institute of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 29 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
14. "Director of controversial Len Lye art gallery suddenly quits". Stuff. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
15. "Duo to job share New Plymouth's Govett Brewster Art Gallery director's role". Stuff. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
16. "Len Lye Centre co-directors quit to return home". RNZ. 23 April 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
17. "Dr Zara Stanhope appointed director of New Plymouth's Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre". Stuff. 5 December 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
18. "Super-sized sculptures come with messages too important to ignore". Stuff. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
19. "Emanations". govettbrewster.com. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
20. "This ex-nun made some of the '60s most iconic art. And it's coming to Melbourne". Time Out Melbourne. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
21. "Japanese art showcased at Govett-Brewster Gallery". www.scoop.co.nz. 22 January 2004. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
22. "Art New Zealand". www.art-newzealand.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
23. "Te Maunga Taranaki". govettbrewster.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
24. "City Gallery Wellington". citygallery.org.nz. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
25. Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "'Real time', 1970". teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
26. "Now Showing: A History of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery". govettbrewster.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
27. "An Oceanic Feeling: Cinema and the Sea". govettbrewster.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
28. "Individual Happiness Now". govettbrewster.com. Retrieved 28 May 2019.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
29. "Len Lye Shadowgraphs". govettbrewster.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
30. "Sister Corita's Summer of Love". govettbrewster.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
31. "Set in Motion Rebecca Baumann, Žilvinas Kempinas, Len Lye, Taree Mackenzie, Ross Manning". govettbrewster.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
32. "Maddie Leach: If you find the good oil let us know". govettbrewster.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
33. "Groundworks: Bill Culbert". govettbrewster.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
34. "Points of Contact: Jim Allen, Len Lye, Hélio Oiticica". govettbrewster.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
35. "Laurence Aberhart Recent Taranaki Photographs". govettbrewster.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
36. "Len Lye". govettbrewster.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
37. "Te Maunga Taranaki". govettbrewster.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
38. Driver, Don (1999). With spirit : Don Driver, a retrospective. Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. New Plymouth, N.Z.: Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. ISBN 1-86953-404-2. OCLC 42976941.

External links

• Govett-Brewster website

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