Its reopening sets the Sarjeant up to once again be the cultural force it was for so many years under legendary director Bill Milbank.
How many layers of time are there to the Sarjeant? Martin Edmond asks.
“The 60 million-year-old Ōamaru limestone, the 2 million-year-old sandhill the gallery stands upon, the hundred-year-old heritage building, the brand new structure behind, with its constitutive and decorative elements which go deep into the Māori and the Polynesian past - all of this will make a magnificent theatre for the showing of historical and contemporary art,” he said.
Richly illustrated with historic and more recent photographs, as well as with many of the key works from the Sarjeant’s rich, varied and nationally important collection, this handsome book is designed by award-winning design studio Area Design.
It goes on sale on November 7. Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery reopens to the public on Saturday, November 9. Printed on art paper, the book is 376 pages, a good read and a reference work that should be in every home in Whanganui.
This book places the gallery at the heart of the story of Whanganui and marks its triumphal reopening.
About the author
Martin Edmond is an award-winning writer, screenwriter and poet. His books include The Autobiography of My Father; The Resurrection of Philip Clairmont; Chronicle of the Unsung; Luca Antara: Passages in Search of Australia; Waimarino County (and other excursions); The Supply Party; Dark Night: Walking With McCahon; Battarbee & Namatjira; The Dreaming Land; The Expatriates; Isinglass; and Bus Stops on the Moon: Red Mole Days 1974–1980. Edmond received a Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in 2013. He lives in Australia and Japan.
Details: Published by Massey University Press, RRP $65.