Major New Zealand collection goes up in flames

A house fire destroys the collection of one of New Zealand's most renowned art patrons.

22 Jan 2014

Gina Fairley

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Visual Arts

One of New Zealand’s most renowned patrons of the arts, New Plymouth engineer John Matthews, has lost his lifelong collection to fire in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Fairfax NZ reported seven fire engines and two water tankers spent nine hours trying to control the blaze at Matthew’s Omata home, located in a rural setting outside New Plymouth.

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Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina