The Suter Gallery - Te Aratoi O Whakatü - Nelson

The Suter Gallery in Nelson can lay claim to being New Zealand’s oldest art gallery and, since a 2016 renovation, also its newest.

Since 1899 the people of Nelson have been united in their support for the arts and the Suter is one truly lasting legacy of that. The history of the gallery is told in a video made for the 2020 Virtual Heritage Festival.

While over the years the collection that has been gathered is predominantly a regional one, it also has works of national significance.

The Suter’s most famous work might be considered to be the 1909 portrait by Gottfried Lindauer of Huria Matenga, a Maori woman who with her husband and friends saved many lives from the wreck of the American ship Delaware in 1863. The painting was was commissioned by the people of Nelson after her death in 1908.

Another prominent asset is a representative collection of works by Sir Mountford Tosswill Woollaston (1919-1998), one of the founders of modern art in New Zealand. Said to have been inspired by Cezanne, Woollaston was local to Nelson, and many of his works are South Island landscapes. Nelson has been called the cradle of Modernism in New Zealand. Colin McCahon spent a short time here and other artists who were attracted by the location and work on the tobacco fields were Rita Angus and Doris Lusk. John Gully's work is in abundance at the Suter.
As is appropriate for the region there is a strong collection of pottery and ceramics.

Environment as well as assets contribute to the attraction of this gallery. It overlooks Queens Gardens, and is central to other Nelson amenities but quiet, serene and green.

Renovations throughout the 20th century were designed to bring visitors in from the gardens and bring the gardens towards the art, with walkways and boardwalks, glass walls and other ‘new at the time’ architectural features linking indoors and outdoors in new ways.

The latest upgrades to the facility were completed and blessed with a Powhiri in August 2016, the collection making its way back for an October opening.

New additions are an education room, collection storage and workshop, refurbished theatre, and most importantly large new exhibition spaces purpose built to attract travelling exhibitions.

Images with thanks to: "The Suter Gallery and Surrounds," Mike Parker Photographer