Denis and Verna Adam have been art collectors and arts philanthropists for most of their married lives. The New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata is proud and honoured to again be the recipient of Denis and Verna’s generosity, with this gift of six exceptional portraits to our collection from their Foundation. This outstanding gift accompanies their longstanding support of the Gallery and the biennial Adam Portraiture Award, which they became patrons of in 2010.

Denis and Verna married in 1953. They began collecting art in the 1960s, and in 1975 established the Adam Foundation to manage their growing collection. They received the Arts Foundation’s inaugural award for Patronage to the Arts in 2006, in recognition of their generosity, which has transformed the cultural landscape of Aotearoa across the visual arts, music and literature. Sadly, Denis passed away in 2018 but Verna and the Foundation keep up the good work he started.

These six portraits are drawn from the Adam’s extensive collection, built up and enjoyed over their lifetime. They represent works by some of New Zealand’s leading artists and add a richness and breadth to the Gallery’s collection we could never achieve by our own means. The Gallery, it’s Trustees and wider arts community of Aotearoa are eternally grateful to Denis and Verna for this gift that communicates their passion for the arts and shares that passion with the nation for posterity.

Among the six donated works, is a portrait by one of New Zealand’s most renowned artists, Charles Fredrick Goldie, his 1938 portrait, Indecision: An Arawa Child .

Also included in this incredible gift is Portrait of a Māori Chief (c. 1970s) by Peter McIntyre, Raymond McIntyre's Study for Portrait of the Artist’s Sister, Doris Mulgan (c. 1920s), Girl Dreams (1976) by Jaqueline Fahey, Portrait of a Young Woman (c. 1940s) by Olivia Spencer-Bower and Richard Killeen's Woman in Room (1968).

Photographed: Jess O’Brien