Gifted: A Legacy of Generosity / 13 Dec 2025 – 15 March 2026
Category
Upcoming Exhibitions
Peter Peryer ‘Camellia’ 2018, 2018, digital inkjet pigment print on paper, 2021/9/18. Collection of Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery. Gift of the Peter Peryer estate, 2021
Gifted: A Legacy of Generosity
Spanning over 100 years of collecting, this exhibition includes historical and contemporary works and demonstrates the extraordinary breadth of this institution’s rich collection. Prior to our original opening in 1919 and throughout our history, Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery has been the recipient of splendid gifts from private sources. Gifted: A Legacy of Generosity celebrates this legacy with a particular focus on gifts received over the past decade, while we were located at Sarjeant on the Quay. Because of the reduced space available to us at our temporary location, many of these recently acquired works are on display here for the very first time. This exhibition is divided into sections that celebrate different types of gifts and showcases some of the benefactor’s stories.
Support for the collection can take other forms and a particular highlight of this exhibition is the result of ongoing generosity shown by the B & C Hewett Charitable Trust. In 2021 we were approached by trust chair Jeremy Goodwin, who wished to contribute funds towards conservation treatment of artworks for our reopening in November 2024. Subsequently the family trust’s generosity has extended much further to other works in the collection. To date 13 paintings have been transformed with another five currently undergoing treatment at Studio Izzo in Auckland. Some of these works had not been displayed previously due to their condition and we’re delighted to bring these works to light for new audiences.
The Sarjeant Gallery has also long valued and benefited from close relationships with artists, who have consistently and generously supported the gallery through gifting their own works to the collection. Over half of the permanent collection is comprised of gifts and bequests, with 32 percent of these from the artists themselves.
The generosity of these gifts to our collection adds a much greater depth as they extend and broaden the stories we can tell. Now that we have returned to our magnificent redeveloped building, we’re excited to begin a new chapter of unpacking these wonderful stories for the next generation.
Jennifer Taylor & Greg Donson
Curators