Ron O’Reilly: The Collector’s Eye

Ron O’Reilly: The Collector’s Eye

Painted Nigerian sculptures meet works of art by Colin McCahon and walls packed with paintings by 1950s and 1960s New Zealand modernists in this eclectic Christchurch Art Gallery exhibition.

Ron O’Reilly: The Collector’s Eye will feature works collected by O’Reilly - Christchurch City Librarian from 1951 to 1968, and a passionate believer in the importance of art and supporting progressive artists.

O’Reilly met artist Colin McCahon when both young men were involved in a Dunedin theatrical production and McCahon was still an art student. The two became friends and O’Reilly started purchasing McCahon paintings - something he continued to do throughout his life.

After becoming Christchurch City Librarian, O’Reilly instigated the public library’s art collection, and subsequently its art loan collection. The collection included original works by artists such as McCahon, Doris Lusk, Toss Woollaston and Tony Fomison - with McCahon often advising O’Reilly on his choices. In those days library members could borrow prints, and later original works of art, for a month at a time for a modest fee; at one stage works were even available for six-month periods. The scheme began with prints in 1953, original painting were added in 1955, and the art borrowing ended in the early 1980s. Prints continued to be bought and lent until about 1990, and the whole Library print collection was sold off in 1995.

Exhibition curator Ken Hall says that O’Reilly was a habitual collector, with an impressive collection of his own. He also collected traditional African art, and during the 1960s he took a two year leave of absence from the Library to act as a visiting professor at a library school in Nigeria. Some of the pieces he purchased during and after that stay are included in the exhibition. Such was his love of art that O’Reilly took paintings by McCahon and Woollaston with him on that Nigerian trip.

Ron O’Reilly: The Collector’s Eye celebrates O’Reilly’s significance as a collector of paintings and African art, an early and constant supporter of Colin McCahon (and other modernist artists including Lusk, Woollaston and Olivia Spencer-Bower), and the instigator of a major public art collection in the city. He arranged many art exhibitions at the Library, wrote as an art critic for The Press newspaper and acted as an art buyer for the then CSA Gallery. His acquisitions for the Library resulted in the formation of a collection of great credibility, recognised by substantial gifts and favourable purchase prices for works of art (in recognition of the exposure the pieces were likely to receive). When the Library’s art acquisition programme ended, its 297 works included a veritable who’s who of New Zealand artists of the time. In 2001, 115 of these were donated to the Robert McDougall Art Gallery.

Ken Hall says the Christchurch Art Gallery exhibition will include 46 works, including paintings, drawings and prints, donated to the Gallery from the Library collection. It will also include Nigerian sculptures from the collection of Canterbury Museum.

Ron O’Reilly’s tenure as City Librarian was marked by innovation - including the instigation of a mechanised circulation system, the introduction of a free lending service, and the collections of both records and paintings. He left the Library to become Director of the New Zealand Library School in Wellington, and later of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth.

“This exhibition celebrates the foresight of a local art lover and collector - someone whose confidence and influence ensured that works of art by many well-known New Zealand artists were, and have remained, accessible to Christchurch people,” says Christchurch Art Gallery Director Jenny Harper.

Ron O’Reilly: The Collector’s Eye at Christchurch Art Gallery coincides with the 150th anniversary celebrations of Christchurch City Libraries.

Ron O’Reilly: The Collector’s Eye will be at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu from 6 June until 29 July 2009.

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