{"id":535032,"date":"2026-07-20T11:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/535032\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T11:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:15:13","slug":"sir-sam-neills-quiet-legacy-at-gores-eastern-southland-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/535032\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Sam Neill\u2019s quiet legacy at Gore\u2019s Eastern Southland Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geddes said Neill, who owned the nearby Two Paddocks vineyard in Central Otago, was a passionate supporter of the visual arts.<\/p>\n

\"SirSir Sam Neill, at a Gallery Floor-talk Exhibition at the Eastern Southland art gallery, alongside National Anthem \u2013 Contemporary Art from China (2014). Neill co-ordinated a selection of works from private collections in the Queenstown area (including his own) for a one-off exhibition at the gallery. Photo \/ Eastern Southland Gallery<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was good friends and really highly respected by a lot of artists. Obviously, if people who he knew and supported, if they had exhibitions here, he would show an interest and sometimes come down and have a look.\u201d<\/p>\n

About five years ago, Neill began donating artworks from his personal collection to the gallery.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the first works was a work by Ralph Hotere. He felt, given that we had a permanent exhibition of Ralph\u2019s, he had something that he felt would be good here,\u201d Geddes said.<\/p>\n

\"YukiYuki Kihara, Kamau Taurua Quarantine Island 2021, Lenticular Photograph. Photo \/ Eastern Southland Gallery<\/p>\n

Among the gifts were a Michael Smither portrait, a portrait of Neill by noted artist Alan Pearson, a work by sculptor Dennis O\u2019Connor and a significant piece by internationally acclaimed artist Yuki Kihara.<\/p>\n

Geddes said Neill donated Kihara\u2019s work in honour of his mother, Priscilla Neill.<\/p>\n

\u201cSam had a beautiful work of hers he acquired and he gifted that to us fairly recently. It\u2019s just a lovely tribute to his mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DenisDenis O’Connor’s XVIII Oarnest 1985, carved in \u014camaru Stone. Donated to the collection by Sir Sam Neil. Photo \/ Eastern Southland Gallery<\/p>\n

Neill also donated a recent work by acclaimed painter Jeffrey Harris to strengthen the gallery\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was lovely that Sam recognised that and made sure that we had a recent work in the collection,\u201d Geddes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese would be gifted just very quietly. It was lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AlanAlan Pearson’s Portrait of Sam Neill 1982, a work in oil on canvas, was donated to the collection by Sir Sam Neill. Photo \/ Eastern Southland Gallery<\/p>\n

As well as donating artworks, Neill occasionally made financial contributions to special gallery projects.<\/p>\n

Geddes said news of Neill\u2019s death came as a shock.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last time we saw him, he didn\u2019t have cancer any longer, so we were quite taken aback. We weren\u2019t expecting that at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JeffreyJeffrey Harris’ Angela in South Canterbury 1996-2012, a work in oil on board, was donated to the collection by Sir Sam Neill. Photo \/ Eastern Southland Gallery<\/p>\n

Geddes said the gallery was grateful visitors would continue to experience Neill\u2019s generosity through the works he donated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good that we were able to have this beautiful work dedicated to his mother … it\u2019s been on show for the last three or four months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Smither’s Portrait of Kirby Wright (undated), a work in oil on board, was donated to the collection by Sir Sam Neill. Photo \/ Estern Southland Gallery<\/p>\n

Beyond his acting career, Geddes believed Neill possessed a remarkable understanding of art.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he hadn\u2019t been an actor in film and stuff, he would have been a really good curator,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a great eye and a really good knowledge of visual arts, not only in terms of New Zealand work but also international work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neill even helped organise exhibitions at the gallery from time to time, Geddes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he would have made a really good curator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Tomsett is a journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geddes said Neill, who owned the nearby Two Paddocks vineyard in Central Otago, was a passionate supporter of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[37111,3376,85379,1975,49479,11585,156,1229,56520,8790,4507,6176,4960,2882,5829,259980,111,139,69,1523,28142,77617,18460,8485,15488,16085,540,1533,1530,80],"class_list":["post-535032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-acclaimed","tag-actor","tag-artworks","tag-at","tag-donated","tag-eastern","tag-entertainment","tag-gallery","tag-gores","tag-institution","tag-late","tag-legacy","tag-live","tag-love","tag-many","tag-neills","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-quiet","tag-quietly","tag-sam","tag-sir","tag-southland","tag-supported","tag-where","tag-will","tag-years","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}