Artist Gifts Major Body of Work to Christchurch Art Gallery

MEDIA RELEASE 10 February 2011

New Zealand Artist Gifts Major Body of Work to Christchurch Art Gallery

Christchurch Art Gallery is to be the recipient of a major body of work gifted to the city by renowned artist, Max Gimblett.

Around 200 works on paper have been selected by gallery curator Peter Vangioni and director Jenny Harper, who both travelled to the artist’s New York studio in June last year to select the pieces from around 7,000 works – all of which were made available by the New Zealand-born artist.

“This is an extraordinarily generous gift from an extraordinary New Zealand artist, who has never forgotten his homeland,” Jenny Harper says. “We have come back with a wonderfully representative collection of Max’s work – from the very beginning of his career, to some works that had just been made.”

Born in New Zealand in 1936, Max Gimblett has lived and worked in the United States almost all his adult life, where he has won accolades for his abstract works. A longtime resident of New York, he is the first New Zealand artist to have his work selected for an exhibition at the prestigious Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Gimblett is no stranger to donating his work and has previously donated his art to the Queensland Art Gallery and the Auckland Art Gallery. However, the gift to the Christchurch Art Gallery is the largest and is estimated to be worth between $1.5 -2 million dollars (NZ).

“This is a fantastic opportunity for Christchurch and the gallery’s public to embrace his works,” says Jenny Harper. “The pieces we have selected give some amazing insights into his work and they will be shown in different contexts throughout our collection displays, with several of the most recent works being included in ‘Brought to Light’ from 14 February.”

Max Gimblett will be visiting Christchurch shortly and is leading a Sumi Ink Workshop (fully booked) and will give a lecture at 2pm on Sunday 13 February on the scope of his gift.

Deputy Mayor Ngaire Button will sign the Deed of Gift on behalf of the city on Monday 14 February. In recognition of this major gift, the Christchurch Art Gallery Trust is instituting a category of ‘Artist Patron’ and will be awarding Max Gimblett with this status.

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