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Chartwell Collection

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The Chartwell Collection is made up of over 2000 contemporary art works purchased by the Chartwell Trust and currently on long-term loan to the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki[1] as part of the Chartwell Project.[2]

History

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In 1970, the Chartwell Trust was founded by accountant Rob Gardiner with the central aim of providing a contemporary art gallery for the city of Hamilton, New Zealand. The Foundation was also intended to promote arts, culture, heritage, community development, education, training, research, as well as the environment and conservation within New Zealand.[3]

The first major acquisition for what became the Chartwell Collection was W A Sutton’s Threshold VIII [4] 1973 purchased in March 1974.

Centre for Contemporary Art

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In 1982 the Trust purchased the Hamilton Hotel at 186 Victoria Street next door to the Waikato Art Museum and converted it into the Centre for Contemporary Art. Initially the Centre was used to store the collection but quickly began to present a regular exhibition programme.[5]

From 1985, the Centre held bi-annual exhibitions from the Chartwell Collection[6] often focused on recent acquisitions. By 1987 there were nearly 500 works in the Collection with an increasing focus on Australian artists. Rob Gardiner hoped this would demonstrate the changing nature of Australian art and, “…reflect an interest in the interaction of European with the Aboriginal painter’s vision…”[7] along with giving an “opportunity to explore the similarities, differences and interchange between New Zealand and Australian work.”[8] The Centre was closed in 1994.

Waikato Museum of Art and History

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In 1993, the Chartwell Collection was placed on long-term loan to the Waikato Museum of Art and History. In 1996, however, the Trust announced it was going to relocate the collection to the Auckland Art Gallery in response to a management restructure at the Museum.[9]

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The transfer of the Chartwell Collection to the Auckland Art Gallery began In 1997. In the following years the Gallery has often used the collection in combination with its own holdings and regularly features the Chartwell Collection with stand-alone exhibitions. By 2022 there had been 16 exhibitions dedicated to the Chartwell Collection.[10] The most recent Walls to Live Inside / Rooms to Own[11] opened at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki September 2022.

Collecting

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Karen and Sue Gardiner, who continue the work started by their father Rob, talking at Te Papa at the 50th Anniversary exhibition Generation X, 2024

By the end of 2022 the Chartwell Collection had close to 2100 items on long-term loan to the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.[12] The two organisations have worked closely together and at times have made joint purchases such as Giovanni Intra’s Untilted (Studded Suit) 1990[13] in 2003 and in 2009 Michael Parekowhai’s The Indefinite Article 1990.[14]

Works to be included in the Chartwell Collection were initially selected by Rob Gardiner who was later joined in the process by his daughter Sue Gardiner,[15] and often with advice from the curators at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Sue Gardiner acknowledged that, "…there's a big difference between a public collection and a private one. A work for a public collection needs to work in a gallery and within the collection to reveal the power of the artwork".[16]

Some collection highlights include Colin McCahon’s Are There Not Twelve Hours of Daylight [17] 1970, Shane Cotton’s 1996 painting Cross,[18] Peter Robinson’s Boy am I Scared Eh![19] 1997, Julian Dashper’s Cass Altarpiece[20] 1986, the 1978 Staircase Night Triptych[21] by Philip Clairmont, Riverbank with Bathers and Shadows[22] by Arthur Boyd, et al’s O Studies[23] 2001, Run Off[24] 2000 by Eve Armstrong, Kate Newby’s I’m so Ready[25] 2009, Dumb Waiter[26] 2009 by Alicia Frankovich, Brown Sloth Creature[27] 2005 by Francis Upritchard and Campbell Patterson’s 8 videos Lifting My Mother for as Long as I can[28] 2006-2013.

Further reading

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The Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki catalogue Home and Away: Contemporary Australian and New Zealand Art from the Chartwell Collection published by the Auckland Art Gallery includes an extended interview with the Chartwell Trust Founder Rob Gardiner.[29]

References

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  1. ^ "Chartwell Collection". Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  2. ^ "Chartwell Project". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Being". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  4. ^ "Threshold VIII". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  5. ^ Walker, Richard (11 December 2021). "Tales of the Hamilton Hotel as it turns into the $76.3m Waikato Regional Theatre". Waikato Times.
  6. ^ "Archive / The Centre for Contemporary Art Hamilton, 1982-1994". 9 April 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  7. ^ Gardiner, Rob (1987). The Chartwell Collection. Hamilton, New Zealand: Chartwell Trust.
  8. ^ Snake oil : Chartwell acquisitions 2002-5. Robert Leonard, Auckland Art Gallery. [Auckland, N.Z.]: [Auckland Art Gallery]. 2005. ISBN 0-86463-264-9. OCLC 156769646.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ^ "Valuable Art to Leave City". Waikato Times. 1 November 1996. p. 3.
  10. ^ "Auckland Art Galler Toi o Tāmaki: Exhibition History". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  11. ^ Walls to live beside, rooms to own : the Chartwell Show, Auckland Art Galley Toi o Tāmaki. Natasha Conland, Amiria Taumata, Fiona Connor, Tim Wagg, Auckland Art Galley. Auckland. 2022. ISBN 978-0-86463-338-5. OCLC 1343018641.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ^ Walls to live beside, rooms to own : the Chartwell Show, Auckland Art Galley Toi o Tāmaki. Natasha Conland, Amiria Taumata, Fiona Connor, Tim Wagg, Auckland Art Galley. Auckland. 2022. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-86463-338-5. OCLC 1343018641.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. ^ Intra, Giovanni. "Untitled (Studded Suit)". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  14. ^ Parekowhai, Michael. "The Indefinite Article". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  15. ^ "Sue Gardiner, Collector, Writer and Funder, Chartwell Trust: Studio Channel Art Fair". 9 August 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2023 – via Vimeo.
  16. ^ Dekker, Diana (8 October 2013). "Gymnasiums of the Mind". The Dominion Post. p. 11.
  17. ^ McCahon, Colin. "Are there not Twelve Hours of Daylight?". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  18. ^ Cotton, Shane. "Cross". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  19. ^ Robinson, Peter. "Boy am I Scared Eh!". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  20. ^ Dashper, Julian. "Cass Altarpiece". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  21. ^ Clairmont, Philip. "Staircase Night Triptych". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  22. ^ Boyd, Arthur. "Riverbank with Bathers and Shadows". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  23. ^ "O Studies". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  24. ^ Armstrong, Eve. "Run Off". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  25. ^ Newby, Kate. "I.m so Ready". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  26. ^ Frankovich, Alicea. "Dumb Waiter". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  27. ^ Upritchard, Francis. "Brown Sloth Creature". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  28. ^ Patterson, Campbell. "Lifting my Mother for as Long as I can". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  29. ^ McAloon, William (1999). Home and away : contemporary Australian and New Zealand art from the Chartwell Collection. Auckland Art Gallery. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland Art Gallery in association with David Bateman. pp. 9–13. ISBN 1-86953-427-1. OCLC 44869384.
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