Development

The Chartwell Collection is a collection of contemporary art from New Zealand and Australia that has been held on long term loan at the Auckland Art Gallery, Toi O Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand, since 1997.

Founded in Hamilton, New Zealand, in 1974, the collection has grown from early New Zealand acquisitions in the 1970s, through the first acquisitions of Australian works in the 1980s, to the establishment of a collection of over 900 works in 2007. The commitment to the exploration of creativity through the medium of contemporary art has also continued to develop in depth along with the determination to enable access to the Collection and to contemporary art on a wider basis.

The Collection is seen through a programme of annual new acquisition exhibitions, a major Chartwell exhibition which is held every three years, through its use by curators at the Auckland Art Gallery and through loans from the collection to exhibitions within New Zealand and overseas.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, a relationship with the Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton, meant that Chartwell Collection works were included in many exhibitions there including:

Cross Currents, Contemporary New Zealand and Australian Art from the Chartwell Collection, 1991 Curators: Lynda Tyler and Ken Orchard.

Shared Pleasures, The Chartwell Collection, 1993, Curator: Lara Strongman