Dowse Art Museum

The Dowse Art Museum is a municipal art gallery in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. Opened in 1971 in the Lower Hutt central business district, it occupies a stand-alone building adjacent to other municipal facilities. The museum's holdings focus on New Zealand artists of both national and local significance, and it serves as a key cultural institution in the Wellington region.

The museum is named after Mayor Percy Dowse and Mayoress Mary Dowse, both of whom died before the museum opened. Percy Dowse served as mayor of Hutt City from 1950 to 1970 and was a firm believer in providing physical, social, and cultural facilities in modern cities. He initiated a building phase that produced the War Memorial Library, the Lower Hutt Town Hall, and the Ewen Bridge, and he championed the addition of an art gallery. Mary Dowse, the first president of the Hutt Valley National Council of Women, was an ardent supporter of the arts. She teamed with Elizabeth Harper of The Hutt Art Society to lobby the City Council, which in 1963 agreed to provide space for an art gallery in an extension of the War Memorial Library. After Mary Dowse died in a road accident in 1964, the Council unanimously decided to construct a new building in her honour. The museum was only partially completed when Percy died in 1970.

David Millar was founding director from 1971 to 1976, establishing the institution's direction with purchases of ceramics and decorative arts. Jim Barr directed from 1976 to 1981, acquiring Colin McCahon's controversial Wall of Death. James Mack served from 1981 to 1988 and in 1982 changed the institution's name from the Dowse Art Gallery to the Dowse Art Museum. Bob Maysmor directed from 1988 to 1998, Tim Walker from 1998 to 2008, Cam McCracken from 2008 to 2012, Courtney Johnston from 2012 to 2018, and Karl Chitham started as director in January 2019.

The Dowse's holdings generally focus on New Zealand artists of both national and local significance. The collection includes national figures such as Ralph Hotere, Colin McCahon, Don Peebles, and Gordon Walters, as well as locally connected, nationally significant artists including Rangi Hetet, Rangimārie Hetet, Gordon Crook, and Hariata Ropata-Tangahoe. The museum has presented strong exhibitions of modern Māori and Pacific artists and issues. It also holds significant collections of jewellery by Alan Preston.

Among the Dowse's signature works is Nuku Tewhatewha, the only surviving pataka (storehouse) from a group of around seven commissioned in the early days of the Māori King movement by Te Āti Awa chief Wi Tako Ngātata to serve as "pillars of the kingdom." Constructed around 1853 at Naenae and carved by a nephew of Te Heuheu Tūkino IV, the pataka was vested to William Beetham in 1856 when Wi Tako sold land at Te Mako. It was moved to Wellington in 1888, then to Brancepeth Station at Masterton in 1912. In 1982, Hugh Beetham offered it to the Dowse Art Gallery, and it was transported over the Remutaka Hill Road by truck to a new wing in the museum. Director James Mack cited this donation as the main reason for changing the institution's name to the Dowse Art Museum, stating that "it is the most important thing we have ever been given, and are ever likely to be given."

Other notable holdings include a bust of Carmen Rupe by Paul Rayner and Colin McCahon's Wall of Death.

The Dowse Art Museum is located in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, and is owned by the municipal authority. It operates as a public art gallery with a website at http://dowse.org.nz/. The museum's present role continues its mission to focus on New Zealand artists of national and local significance, building on its history of exhibitions that have included Casting Light, Ann Robinson (1998), Thrift to Fantasy, Rosemary McLeod (2003), Respect, Hip Hop Aotearoa (2003), Fruits Tokyo Street Style, Shoichi Aoki (2004), Bill Viola: The Messenger (2010), Legacy: The Art of Rangi Hetet and Erenora Puketapu-Hetet (2016), and Gavin Hipkins: The Domain (2017-2018).