Introduction

The Chartwell Collection aims to

• develop a significant New Zealand based collection of contemporary art from New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific and Pacific Rim countries  which contributes influentially to New Zealand visual culture.
• Cultivate new practices and new understandings about art, culture and identity.
• Promote and support the growth of the visual arts, their understanding and making, and to contribute to creative visual thinking in New Zealand.
• Make the ideas and experiences art offers available to the widest possible audience.

The Chartwell Collection has been held on long term loan at the Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand, since 1997. It has also had a significant history of development with the Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton, New Zealand. Works from the collection are loaned to public museums for exhibition purposes. A Chartwell curator of Public Programmes, based at Auckland Art Gallery, instigates an active public programme designed to widen and develop the Gallery’s audience and raise the profile and understanding of the visual arts through events.

The Collection incorporates a wide variety of art practice and continues to explore new developments. There are some smaller sub-collections within the main collection including a drawings collection and a collection of indigenous artefacts from around the Pacific region.