Author Martin Edmond coming to Whanganui to find Sarjeant Gallery stories

Martin Edmond will be in Whanganui soon to hear from the public. Photo / Mayu Kanamori

An award-winning author who grew up in Ohakune has been commissioned to document the history of the Sarjeant Gallery.

Martin Edmond will be in Whanganui next week for a public talk and to search for stories, anecdotes, memorabilia, and photos for a book ahead of the gallery's re-opening at Pukenamu Queen's Park.

He aims to cover the complete history of the Sarjeant Gallery and will be in Whanganui to hear from those who have tales to tell about it.

"There was an annual ball held at the Sarjeant up until 1940. People would put on their best clothes and dance the night away," he said.

"It was more than an art gallery in a way, it was a civic resource for all sorts of community events.

"Any documentation on that would be completely fascinating."

Edmond said he had been invited to write the book by the Sarjeant itself.

"I got an email out of the blue.

"I said 'do you realise I live in Sydney?' I thought it must have been a mistake but she assured me it wasn't."

Edmond was born in Ohakune and it was a series of connections from his hometown that convinced him he had to write the book.

"I found out Bill Milbank, who was the director of the Sarjeant for around 30 years, he's from up here too and went to Ruapehu College. That's where my dad taught.

"Bill's art teacher was a guy called Stan Frost - a close family friend and actually my godfather.

"At that point, I thought there was no way I could turn it down. The ancestors would be cross with me."

Edmond said a lot of the research needed to be done online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

An unpublished history of the gallery from 1900 until the mid-1980s, made by former Sarjeant curator Derek Schulz, was his starting point.

"That really laid the groundwork. It's not huge but very well-researched and meticulously referenced," Edmond said.

An interesting part of the work was finding out more about Henry Sarjeant himself.

Sarjeant died in 1912 and left £30,000 (about $70 million in today's money) for the Wanganui Borough Council to build and maintain an art gallery at Pukenamu Queen's Park.

"They (the Sarjeants) were tenant farmers in the west of England towards the Welsh border, and weren't wealthy people at all," Edmond said.

Henry Sarjeant ended up in Fordell after spending time in Melbourne, where his sister lived with her husband, who was well connected with the vibrant art scene in the city.

"Melbourne was a boom town and all sorts of people turned up there. As a young man, Henry must have moved through and seen quite a lot of that world before he came to New Zealand," Edmond said.

"His older brother Isaac was already here, and the Sarjeant land was all around Fordell."

Edmond said Sarjeant did really well as a sheep farmer, aided by the introduction of refrigeration in the early 1880s.

"He did the classic thing of buying more property, then more property, then buying houses in the city.

"If he'd stayed in England he probably would have been a tenant farmer himself."

Sarjeant's wife Ellen was as big a player in the story as him, Edmond said.

She was the daughter of a friend of Sarjeant and there was a 39-year age gap between them.

Prime Minister William Massey (speaking on platform) officially opens the Sarjeant in 1919. Photo / Supplied

"He had the money but I think she probably had the vision.

"It all starts in 1912, and that's when Ellen, along with mayor (Charles) Mackay and a few other people begin the task of turning his money into a building."

Edmond said Ellen eventually remarried and spent most of the rest of her life in Europe.

"A lawyer called Louis Cohen sort of became her representative in the town, and he is another important figure.

"Mr Cohen preferred to be in the background, but he loved the gallery so much that he would go out at night and dig up trees so they didn't grow too tall and obscure the view of it from town."

Another part of the story that he found "unexpectedly fascinating" was the relationship between the people who ran the gallery and the council.

It was often a fraught relationship.

"You've got politicians who are elected and then you've got professional art gallery people on the other side who, nevertheless, have to answer to these political representatives.

"In the early days, a change of mayor meant a big change in how the gallery operated.

"What could possibly go wrong?"

The book's publication is due to coincide with the reopening of the gallery in 2024.

It is currently in its second draft.

"The structure is largely in place and the history is too, but it's certainly capacious enough for more material," Edmond said.

"It's always good to include more local colour."

Arthur said Edmond has been to Whanganui at least twice already to research the project.

"We are delighted to be able to host an event with him which will allow people to come and hear about this project, his process, and the research.

"It also gives the public a chance to contribute their experiences of the Sarjeant and contribute personal anecdotes, or show Martin special saved personal items related to the history of the gallery."

Edmond will hold the public talk at Sarjeant on the Quay at 7pm on Tuesday, November 15.

Entry is free but booking needs to be made by calling 06 349 0506.