Govett-Brewster Art Gallery


The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is a contemporary art museum at New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. The gallery receives core funding from the New Plymouth District Council. Govett-Brewster is recognised internationally for contemporary art.

History

The gallery opened on 22 February 1970, in the old Regent cinema building converted by New Plymouth architect, Terry Boon. The gallery trust was established with funds gifted by Monica Brewster.

1998 extension

The gallery opened an extension designed by New Plymouth firm Boon Cox Goldsmith Jackson in 1998. The extension was principally undertaken to provide exhibition and storage space for the Len Lye Foundation Collection along with a dedicated education space.

Len Lye Centre

The Len Lye Centre is an extension to the Govett-Brewster, built to display the works of Len Lye. It was designed by Andrew Patterson of Pattersons Associates, New Zealand. It is home to the archives and studio collection of the Len Lye Foundation. Born in Christchurch in 1901 and largely self-educated, Len Lye was driven by a lifelong passion for motion, energy and the possibility of composing them as a form of art. Lye's interests took him far from New Zealand; after sojourns in the South Pacific, Lye moved to London and then New York, where he became known as an intensely creative film-maker and kinetic sculptor.
The Len Lye Centre was opened on 25 July 2015. This is the first gallery in New Zealand to be dedicated to a single artist.

Awards

The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery has received many awards.

Exhibitions

The Govett-Brewster has produced a number of notable or landmark exhibitions:

Publications

The Govett-Brewster has produced publications to accompany many of its exhibitions alongside stand-alone texts.
In 2016 the Govett-Brewster published NOW SHOWING: A History of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery outlining 45 years of exhibition making at the gallery. The publication was edited by Christina Barton, Jonathan Bywater and Wystan Curnow with essays by Barton, Curnow, Jim and Mary Barr, Rhana Devenport, and a foreword by then director, Simon Rees. NOW SHOWING also included ‘Forty Five Moments’, a selection of illustrated highlights from the previous 45 years of gallery activities with accompanying texts by Paul Brobbel, Tyler Cann, Susette Goldsmith, Simon Rees and Mercedes Vicente.
Other notable releases include: