Eastern Southland Gallery - John Money Collection

John Money Collection

The John Money Collection is a substantial collection of artworks, most of which are either ethnological artefacts or modern art drawing on tribal art for its inspiration (including several notable works by Theo Schoon). It has been housed in a specially-built extension to the gallery since December 2003. The collection was the passion of noted sexologist John Money, who donated much of his collection to the gallery in 2002, and was built up over several decades from the 1940s on. Money had become friends with Schoon in Christchurch in the 1940s, and also with many other members of New Zealand's art elite, including Rita Angus and Douglas Lilburn.

Schoon's interest in Maori art led to an awakening in similar interests in Money, and from 1947 (when Money moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) he became a patron of Schoon and Angus and also an avid collector of tribal art, including works from Australia, Africa, and the Americas.

The Collection as presented in the Eastern Southland Gallery is dominated by a series of large sculptural figures from West Africa, alongside which sit modern art from the United States and New Zealand and Aboriginal art from Australia.

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