RECONSTRUCTION
We are now in our final year of reconstructions. The old roof of the City Gallery is
now in the process of removal and a new glazed roof is to be installed. When this has been completed,
a laylight will be inserted below it. The laylight will contain the main lighting and act as an effective barrier
to heat, excess of light and sound. Finally, the Gallery will be redecorated and provided with an 18-inch
high dais running from wall to wall at one end of the room.
MACKELVIE GALLERY
The semi-laylight of this Gallery has proved somewhat unsatisfactory, and it will therefore
be extended into a full laylight with little trouble and disturbance this year.
RESTORATION STUDIO
This studio has now been fitted out, and all that remains to be done is the completion of the
purchase of apparatus needed for the highly specialized work of conservation. Many of our pictures require urgent
attention and we hope also to carry out research on humidity, which is our most besetting problem. Paintings on
panel are the principal victims and constant watch has to be maintained, particularly during late summer, when
humidity rises occasionally to 100 per cent. The studio will be the only fully equipped one in New Zealand, and it
is hoped that other Dominion galleries and private owners of valuable paintings will avail |
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themselves of the professional advice and
service it will offer.
JOHN BARR CLARK HOYTE (1833-1913) British AUCKLAND PANORAMA, 1869
Watercolour 17 1/4 x 24 3/4 ins
Hoyte is to be represented by an exhibition of his work in the Gallery from June 14th to July 7th.
This is the first exhibition of pictures by this interesting artist to be shown in New Zealand.
Hoyte's background is still very sketchy, but it is hoped that research ,by Miss Una Platts will reveal more of his life. He was born in
England c. 1833 and was in New Zealand between approximately 1861 and 1877, when he left for Australia, where he settled in
Sydney until his death in 1913.
He appears to have travelled widely throughout both islands, but the greater proportion
of his work was carried out in and about Auckland. It is probable that he served in the army, later returning to take up painting seriously.
Hoyte has an imaginative vision with a strong feeling for form and tone, with which he catches the quality of pioneer life without resort to
sophistication or to primitive expression. The Gallery, by holding these exhibitions each year, hopes to establish the reputation of these
early artists, thereby setting a firm foundation to the history of painting in New Zealand.
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