Families connected to the Hawke's Bay Museum and Art Gallery
Patrons are a cornerstone in the creation of an exceptional museum. Prized pieces, special collections and spectacular exhibitions, the museum would be unable to obtain any of these on its own. Each is made possible through the generosity of everyday people who choose to become patrons.
Community money, through council rates, pays HBMAG’s day-to-day expenses, but it is patrons who have created its reputation for excellence.
Philanthropy comes in many forms: gifts, bequests from trusts and estates, donations, sponsorship of specific rooms within the Museum. Vital conservation of older works is also only possible through funds gifted to HBMAG. Patronage solves a very real challenge museums face: how to add to the great collections of yesteryear and how to ensure they are still around for many years to come.
There is a rich history of philanthropy at HBMAG. In the best possible way, the direction of the Museum has been shaped by its patrons: the collections, specific artefacts, whole galleries. The generosity of the community tells HBMAG’s story as much as its influential directors.
Sir Douglas Mclean and Lady Florence
The patronage of Sir Douglas and Lady Florence McLean galvanised the decision to build the original Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery.
Lady Florence gifted to the Museum an extensive collection of artefacts, antiques and archives on the proviso they were housed in a ‘fire-proof building’. So began the construction of the first section of HBMAG. From there, over 850 items were gifted to the Museum across a range of diverse areas echoing the exotic, eclectic tastes of the McLean family. Many items were of historical importance to Hawke’s Bay. Lady Florence and Sir Douglas, first president of the Napier Society of Arts and Crafts, had owned Maraekakaho Station. Douglas’ father Donald had been instrumental to the development of the region in the mid 1800s. The McLean Gallery and HBMAG’s collection of works by Horatio Robley are also made possible by the generosity of the McLean family.
Gwen Malden
Gwen Malden gave much to hbmag. Gwen, herself a watercolourist, parlayed the profits of an inheritance into a trust, which then paid for the construction of HBMAG’s Malden Gallery in 1954. Today the Gwen Malden Trust continues the good works of its founder through many generous gifts across Hawke’s Bay in the areas of art, music, education and welfare.
Harold Holt
To celebrate a century of trading, H R Holt, of the Carter Holt business conglomerate, gifted enough funds to build a southern section onto the original Museum. This opened in 1959 as the Holt Gallery. Later, Holt took up a position as President of the Hawke’s Bay Art Society and, in the 1980s, again contributed to the construction of new display cases for the museum.
W T Dobson
The recent legacy of Napier lawyer W T Dobson was also a generous one. The HBMAG redevelopment fund contains $400,000 from this trust.
Morris Spence
Morris Spence was a prominent Napier accountant with a passionate belief in the potential of Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery. In his will he generously provided for the upkeep of the Museum. His highly personalised vision was to contribute financially to the less glamorous areas in which he guessed the Museum would always struggle. In the 1950s he created a trust that still pays annually towards building maintenance.
Mary Bestall
Mary Bestall, widow of influential Museum Director Leo Bestall, died in 1976 and through her will solidified an already strong relationship the Bestalls had with HBMAG.
The Museum benefited from a generous acquisition fund. In her will she specified funds should be used ‘for the purchase of pictures and other works of art for display in the Art Gallery or Museum’. Today, administered by the Friends of the Hawke’s Bay Cultural Trust, works are still bought each year through the Mary Bestall fund.
Paying Dividends
Countless small contributions, and a few substantial ones, mean HBMAG is intrinsically linked to many families across Hawke’s Bay.
Such gestures within a museum have a long life and they continue to pay dividends to the community for a very long time.
Contemporary patronage in the world of creative industries is a fulfilling and inspiring undertaking. It contributes much to the arts, to cultural wellbeing, to the preservation of social history. It is only through such contributions that a bright, buoyant future for HBMAG is possible.