123rd anniversary of The Suter Art Gallery
Today marks the 123rd anniversary of The Suter Art Gallery.
The gallery is a memorial to the second Bishop of Nelson, Andrew Burn Suter. Bishop Suter and his wife Amelia travelled to Nelson in 1867 to lead the Anglican diocese and they became major figures in early Nelson society. In 1890, the Bishop suffered a stroke which left him incapacitated for the last five years of his life. During this period he discussed his ‘long cherished wish’ to present an art gallery to the people of Nelson. Immediately after the Bishop’s death in 1895, Amelia began to realise her husband’s dream. She gifted some land, money and part of Bishop Suter’s art collection as the founding donation. Herself unwell, Amelia then returned to England and died barely a year after her husband.
The ‘Bishop Suter Art Gallery’ was officially opened on Tuesday, May 31, 1899, at 2:30pm.
Image: Amelia Suter presiding over the tea table at Bishopdale with the bishop’s theological students. Seated (left to right) Mr Course, Miss Hamson, Mrs Suter, Mrs Course (nee Bramfell), Mr Bennett (the future Māori Bishop). Standing (left to right) Bishop Suter, Mr Chatterton, Mr Dobson, Mr Adcock, Mr Bramfell, Mr Blackiston. (Tyree Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library).
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