Sarjeant Gallery Whanganui

Notable among these are works by: Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones RA, Domenico Piola, Sir Frank Brangwyn RA, Bernadino Poccetti, Gaspard Dughet, Sir William Richmond RA, William Etty, Lelio Orsi, Frederick Goodall RA, Augustus John RA and many others. From these works and more, the Sarjeant Gallery also generates touring exhibitions.

Work by New Zealand artists was first acquired in 1926 and, more assiduously from 1945, the gallery made it its policy to focus on collecting New Zealand art. Not surprisingly then, outside of the main centres, the Sarjeant, on Wanganui’s behalf, has one of the most complete surveys of New Zealand art history in the country. This is a much sought after resource and we often loan out our collection to institutions.

The existing New Zealand collection is a significant and comprehensive holding of art from the 1840s until the present day. The Sarjeant’s Collections include works by Colin McCahon, Ralph Hotere, Pat Hanly, Charles Frederick Goldie, Gottfried Lindauer, Petrus Van Der Velden and many others. Major holdings of individual artists include Gretchen Albrecht, Robert McLeod, Warren Viscoe and Rodney Fumpston.

The Sarjeant Gallery has committed to the ongoing display and storage of the Edith Marion Collier Loan Collection. The collection was placed on long term loan with the Sarjeant Gallery in 1985, the centennial of Edith Collier’s birth, by the kind donation of Collier family members. The Loan Collection includes some 500 drawings, watercolours, gouaches, oil paintings, prints, personal ephemera, photographs and correspondence, as well as the artist’s library. The Loan Collection is not currently on permanent display but is available to view on appointment. Please contact us on (06) 349 0506 if you would like to see examples of Edith Collier’s work.

Soon after the Gallery opened, a notable local photographer, Frank Denton was commissioned to assemble a collection of international pictorial photography. More recently and, for more than 25 years now, the Sarjeant has demonstrated a strong commitment to contemporary photography and is recognised as a premier gallery in this respect.

There are important holdings by nationally recognised photographers such as Laurence Aberhart, Peter Peryer, Anne Noble, Ans Westra, Wayne Barrar, Megan Jenkinson, Yvonne Todd and more historically, Frank Denton. International pieces include work by George Krause and Ed Ruscha. The Sarjeant Gallery is very much committed to critically increasing its holdings in this discipline and, aside from Auckland and Wellington, positions itself as a major centre for study and display of the medium.