Dr Keith Ovenden ONZM
Dr Keith Ovenden speaking at a reception for the New Zealand Portrait Gallery, at Government House, Wellington, on 27 November 2013. Image: Courtesy New Zealand Government, Office of the Governor-General
It is with great sorrow that we record the death of Dr Keith Ovenden on 23 June 2023.
Keith was Chair of the Board of Trustees of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pukenga Whaakata for six years from October 2012 until stepping down in December 2018. In the 13 years he was involved with the Gallery, Keith was tireless in pursuing his vision of a truly national portrait gallery for New Zealand. With his strategic focus and determination he succeeded in transforming a nascent operation into a thriving and respected arts institution of national importance.
The brainchild of founders Bill and Judy Williams, the Gallery had, during its first 15 years, mounted exhibitions and run a national competition for schools solely through the efforts of its dedicated founders, supporters and volunteers. It had no physical gallery, no office space, no computer, a collection of only six artworks and no assured funding.
From his first involvement with the Gallery in 2005 as Deputy Chair of the Board, Keith was the driving force behind setting an ambitious new course and goals for the Gallery. Together with Sir Michael Hardie Boys, who preceded him as Chair, and the Gallery’s first Director, the late Avenal McKinnon, he led a period of remarkable growth and professionalisation for the Gallery. He was the prime mover in many of the key events in the years 2005-2018: spearheading a major fundraising campaign to acquire our permanent premises in Shed 11 in 2010; securing resources for the seismic strengthening and refurbishment of Shed 11 in 2012; steering efforts to recruit talented professional staff; persuading many gifted people from a wide variety of backgrounds to become involved with helping the Gallery; raising the profile and reputation of the Gallery among significant figures in government, the private sector and key institutions; pursuing numerous initiatives to put the Gallery on a secure, long-term financial footing while never losing sight of the objective of connecting us to our heritage and showing New Zealanders who we are in ways that are accessible, stimulating and entertaining.
To all his encounters, Keith brought a formidable intellect and insight, brilliant public speaking skills, scintillating conversation, erudition, an expansive personality, wit and the joy of life. Before settling permanently in New Zealand in 1974, Keith had a distinguished career spanning many fields. With degrees from the Universities of Keele (UK), Michigan (USA), and Oxford (DPhil 1971) he taught Political Sociology at the universities of Essex and Canterbury until 1982, when he stepped aside to write full time. He first came to New Zealand with a visiting British universities debating team in 1966, returned as a post-doctoral fellow at Victoria University of Wellington in 1972, and called New Zealand home from 1974. He was well known in the 1970s and 1980s for his radio and TV commentaries on politics and the media, and for reporting on the Rainbow Warrior affair. In addition to several works on political economy, he published four novels and a memoir as well as a highly regarded biography of Dan Davin, A Fighting Withdrawal, published by Oxford University Press in 1996.
In 2019, the Gallery instituted an annual winter lecture to honour Keith’s contribution to the development of the Portrait Gallery. Keith gave the inaugural lecture on 15 August 2019.
He was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the arts, in the 2020 New Year Honours.
Keith was a remarkable, complex and incomparable man who, with his love of art, history and literature, laid the foundations for the Gallery to become a national portrait gallery and led and inspired others with his vision and commitment. He has left a huge legacy and will be enormously missed by the whole Gallery community.
We send our deepest sympathy to his wife, Helen Sutch, sons Piers and Crispin, and all members of his family in their profound loss.
Keith’s funeral service will be live-streamed at 1pm on Wednesday 5 July at the link below. The recording will be available for several months.