Date:
From the Fletcher Collection brings together over thirty paintings drawn from the Fletcher Trust Collection.
The Fletcher Trust Collection originated in early 1962, when Sir James Fletcher (1914–2007) received a call from Peter Webb, an employee of art auctioneers Geo. Walker Limited, inquiring whether Fletcher Holdings would be interested in acquiring five watercolours by J.B.C. Hoyte (1835-1914). Accompanied by George Fraser (1916–1986), Managing Director Fletcher Group Services, Sir James inspected the works and agreed to purchase all five for a price which has gone down in legend as "₤300 or thereabouts".
The newly-purchased artworks were placed in the company’s dining room, where Fletcher employees were encouraged to enjoy, think about aesthetic values, develop an interest in art and to discover that, far from being an area of mystery, the visual arts have much to contribute to their lives.
From then on, George Fraser, Sir James Fletcher, Lady Vaughan Fletcher and their son, Hugh Fletcher, formed an unofficial art committee and by 1967 had amassed a significant collection of 19th century and early-20th century New Zealand art. In the same year, the company's new premises in Penrose, Auckland was nearing completion. The interior designer for the project, Peter Bromhead, persuaded architect Hugh Phillips and the Building Committee to abandon the dark wood, panelled walls traditionally used for executive floors in favour of white walls, which could then be advantageously hung with contemporary paintings. This resulted in the acquisition of Colin McCahon's (1919–1987) Waterfall and Gordon Walters's (1919–1995) koru painting Tahi, both of which formed the basis of a collection of contemporary New Zealand painting which has been steadily added to ever since.
In the late 1970s, Fletcher Holdings and Challenge Corporation had between them acquired a majority shareholding in the Tasman Pulp and Paper Company Limited, and in 1981, the three companies merged to become Fletcher Challenge Limited. This had significant implications for the Fletcher Collection, as it was now joined by the Wellington-based Challenge Collection, which owed its origin to two men—Sir Ronald Trotter and Jack Hodgetts—in 1965; later, the collection was curated by Lady Margaret Trotter.
In 1987, it was decided to merge the dispersed Auckland and Wellington company offices into a single global headquarters in a refurbished Fletcher Challenge House in Auckland. The merging of the two collections now became inevitable. By July 1991, paintings formerly in Wellington had all joined their Auckland counterparts on the walls at Fletcher Challenge House, forming the Fletcher Trust Collection, where it remains today.
"The trust's collection has been very carefully nurtured over many years. Its mission statement is that it should be the finest examples of a period of an artist's work… The Fletcher Trust's intention is that its paintings, which constitute a unique record of the whole history of New Zealand art, should be seen by as many New Zealanders as possible." —Peter Shaw, 2010
