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World video travel guide
News • New Zealand • 2011-07-13
Major art on show for NZ gallery opening
The ‘Robertson Promised Gift’ - a private art collection owned by billionaire New Zealand luxury lodge owners, the Robertson family - is to go on show for the first time at the newly refurbished Auckland Art Gallery.
The collection of works, which includes Dali, Matisse and Picasso, is the largest ever given to an art gallery in Australasia and presents a rare opportunity for New Zealand.
The Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, which has been undergoing major refurbishment for the past three years, is due to reopen on 3 September.
For just eight weeks, visitors will be able to view the entire collection gifted by Julian and Josie Robertson in 2009.
Gallery reopening
New York-based art collectors and philanthropists, the Robertson family owns three of New Zealand’s top luxury lodges - Kauri Cliffs (Northland), The Farm at Cape Kidnappers (Hawke’s Bay) and Matakauri Lodge (Queenstown). All three have won numerous international awards.
In 2009 the Robertsons announced they wanted to give something back to the country they love, and gifted NZ$115m of their private art collection to the Auckland Gallery.
Robertson Promised Gift
The Robertson Promised Gift is drawn from a private collection that largely focuses on modernist works. While frequently called on to lend to art museums, it is the first time the Robertsons have gifted work.
Dating from the late 19th to mid 20th centuries, the collection's art historical and cultural value places it among the most generous philanthropic acts in New Zealand history.
Announcing the Robertson collection would be on exhibit for the grand reopening, Gallery Director Chris Saines said it would be the first and only occasion the Robertson gift would be seen in Auckland, in its entirety, until the 15 works were finally settled on the gallery under the terms of the deed of promised gift.
Robertson Galleries
Saines said the Robertson's remarkable gift would be honoured in perpetuity when the level one Kitchener galleries - in the historic 1887 Wellesley / Kitchener Street building - are renamed the 'Julian and Josie Robertson Galleries'.
Saines paid tribute to Josie Robertson who passed away in 2010.
The Robertson collection will be displayed free to the public in the new Julian and Josie Robertson Galleries from 3 September until 30 October 2011 - timing that will coincide with the influx of visitors to New Zealand, for Rugby World Cup 2011.
Earlier exhibition
In 2006 the Auckland Art Gallery organised an exhibition of 12 works from the Julian and Josie Robertson collection, which was also shown at Te Papa in Wellington. Six of those works are included in the Robertson Promised Gift.
The overwhelming response to that exhibition, much of it from young visitors, had a profound and lasting affect on the Robertson family.
"We have had a lifelong love affair with New Zealand. We love Auckland. And we love these pictures. That's why we were so pleased when we brought these works to New Zealand that New Zealanders seemed to enjoy them as much as we do," the Robertsons said.
"Frankly, bringing the pictures was probably the most appreciated thing we have ever done. We are delighted to be able to make this gift."
Auckland Art Gallery
The NZ$121m refurbishment of Auckland Art Gallery / Toi o Tāmaki has taken three years and involved a team of 1200 workers.
Work on the historic 1887 building at the corner of Wellesley and Kitchener Streets in Auckland’s central city, has included returning the building to its original state using traditional methods and materials, including horsehair plaster.
The building’s display space has been increased by 50 per cent.
The 1887 Wellesley / Kitchener St building and the 1916 day-lit East gallery were the first spaces to be completed in a phased handover ahead of the official opening in September.
The three-year construction period has included one million man hours.
