David Hutton founded the Dunedin School of Art in 1870. It was New Zealand's first art school.
Hutton, a 26-year-old art teacher from Scotland, had arrived at Port Chalmers aboard Christian McAusland in January 1870, bringing with him tonnes of plaster casts of classical sculptures.
The School of Art was administered by the Otago Education Board, under the Otago Provincial Council, until the abolition of provincial government in 1876.
It was after that time administered by the central New Zealand government's department of education.
Hutton was given two rooms in the Post Office Building (now the site of John Wickliffe House) and then rooms in the education board's newly completed normal school building in Moray Pl.
Hutton ran art classes for primary and secondary school pupils, ladies afternoon drawing class, and evening classes for "artisans" in painting, modelling in clay, and freehand, geometric, mechanical and architectural drawing.
The Dunedin Technical School, from which the Otago Polytechnic was founded, was not developed until many years later in 1889.
In 1921, the King Edward Technical College's board of managers took over control of the Dunedin School of Art.
The school of art has produced many of the country's finest artists, including Frances Hodgkins and Colin McCahon.
Sources: Continuing Education of Quality: A History of Otago Polytechnic and its Predecessors 1870-2006 and Bricklayers and Mortarboards: A History of New Zealand Polytechnics and Institutes of Technology.
