The "Looking Forward to Looking Back" exhibition, part of the society’s 150th anniversary celebrations, will open on May 30 at its galleries, first floor, Dunedin Railway Station.
In a statement, a society spokesperson said 40 works extracted from their storage space in the depths of the Dunedin Railway Station clock tower, would be displayed — some for the first time in 50 years.
Among the well-known artists whose works would be featured in the heritage exhibition are artists such as H.V. Miller, John Charles Veitch, Fred O’Neill, George Chance, Mabel Hill, Shona McFarlane, Annie Baird, Alfred Henry O’Keefe, Myra Thompson and W.M. Hodgkins.
Since the establishment of the Otago Art Society in 1876, works of significance to the society had been collected into what is known as the "Permanent Collection", which contained close to 200 works, the spokesperson said.
Some of these works were now on show in the society’s Shona McFarlane Gallery.
The full collection was gathered with some "bumps along the way" in the OAS history, due to amalgamations and separation from other organisations.
The full collection had recently been reviewed by John Timmins, of Moray Gallery, to provide information on their condition and "provenance" — especially in relation to their significance to Otago.
Mr Timmins also provided recommendations on some re-framing and future storage of the works.
Otago Art Society will ask visitors to the exhibition if they have information on the history of each the works to add to the historic narrative around them.
Cards will be provided for people to record their comments on.
The "Looking Forward to Looking Back" Heritage Collection Exhibition will be open to the public from May 31-June 20 in the society’s galleries at Dunedin Railway Station. Open 10am-4pm daily, entry free.
Running alongside the heritage exhibition will be a showcase of works by OAS Council and life members, which will run from June 2-20, providing an interesting juxtaposition of "old v new" works. — Allied Media
