Tony Mackle, Research Associate will talk on how John Baillie, an often overlooked New Zealand artist, played a crucial role in the establishment of the National Art Collection in the early 1900s.
John Baillie is a largely forgotten and overlooked figure in the history of New Zealand art. He was, however, a significant presence in the art world of Wellington during the 1890s and played a crucial role in the establishment of the national collection of paintings in the first two decades of the twentieth century. An artist with broad interest in the arts, including theatre and music, Baillie’s astute business skills enabled him to turn his interests into a viable livelihood as an artist agent and gallery director in London.
He is chiefly known through the highly successful, ‘Baillie exhibition’ shown in Wellington from May to June 1912. Many of the paintings from the exhibition were purchased for the National Art Collection – and still form a substantial nucleus of the Te Papa Art Collection.
How to collect great art the wrong way – essay about Baillie on Te Papa’s Off the Wall online magazine.
Feature Image: Detail from The Clerkenwell flower makers, 1896, by Samuel Melton Fisher. Gift of Levin and Co., 1912. Te Papa (1912-0002-1)