An Injection of Europe

Having your artwork represented by a dealer is now a normal expectation for an artist, but in the 1950s, a dealer gallery was a ground-breaking idea in New Zealand. In Wellington there was Helen Hitchings Gallery (established 1949), in Auckland Argus House Gallery and New Vision Art Centre (1957) and Christchurch had Gallery 91 (1959). At a time in Christchurch’s history when the Robert McDougall Art Gallery was remembered for its static permanent display, and opportunities to exhibit were predominantly limited to the Canterbury Society of Arts (CSA) (a prospect that conjured up the idea of showing alongside hobbyists, as well as the restrictions associated with conservativism), Barbara and André Brooke pioneered the professional contemporary dealer gallery model in Christchurch.

Through Gallery 91, the Brookes cultivated a more progressive public attitude towards contemporary art and helped usher in the concept of the professional contemporary artist. They were committed to promoting New Zealand modernism and wider contemporary practice, and they fostered a contemporary art market through being approachable dealers who raised the frequency and standard of exhibitions in the city. These innovations were presented to artists and the public through the sophistication of a stylish social gallery space that captured the cultural vibrancy of Europe. In fact, although Gallery 91 operated for less than a year, it would become Barbara Brooke’s induction into the New Zealand art world that she would devote her career to serving, and it would leave its mark in the memory of artists, art buyers, the public and those who would later become part of the professional New Zealand arts community—such as writers, dealers, curators and art gallery directors.

Gallery 91 was located on the third floor of a building (formally Bucketts Gymnasium) at 91A Cashel Street, in the heart of Christchurch. When the gallery opened in January 1959, the Brookes had redecorated the space in what Peter.