Biography
The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū is a memorial to the second Bishop of Nelson, Andrew Burn Suter (1830-1895). British-born Bishop Suter and his wife Amelia travelled to Nelson in 1867 to lead the Anglican diocese and they became major figures in early Nelson society. In addition to his official duties, Bishop Suter also busied himself with artistic pursuits as a recreational painter and collector of art. In 1889 he established the Bishopdale Sketching Club (now the Nelson Suter Art Society) and served as its first President and critic. He was also a friend of the painter John Gully (1819-1888) and developed a substantial collection of that artist’s work.
In 1890, the Bishop suffered a stroke which left him incapacitated for the last five years of his life. During this period he discussed his ‘long cherished wish’ to present an art gallery to the people of Nelson. Immediately after the Bishop’s death in 1895, Amelia began to realise her husband’s dream. She gifted some land, money and Bishop Suter’s art collection as the founding donation. Herself unwell, Amelia then returned to England and died barely a year after her husband. She left the building of a gallery in the hands of the founding Board of Trustees, comprising leading figures in Nelson society. In 1899 the ‘Bishop Suter Art Gallery’ designed by Frederick de Jersey Clere (1856-1952) was opened alongside the old Matthew Camobell School. After WW2 and until the late 1960s the Contemporary Art Society donated gifts of artworks to museums and galleries in the Commonwealth. The Suter has 11 such donations, including, notably Dark Beach (1962) by Peter Lanyon.
In 2007 the Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū was designated as a Category II Heritage Building and in 2016 work was completed on a major redevelopment which protected the original heritage building and significantly expanded the galleries' spaces.
