{{Short description|New Zealand art gallery}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=May 2022}} {{Infobox building | name = Barry Lett Galleries | native_name = | image = Barry Lett Galleries.jpg | caption = The Barry Lett Galleries pictured in the early 1970s | former_names = | building_type = | architectural_style = | structural_system = | location = Victoria Street West, Auckland CBD | owner = | current_tenants = | landlord = | coordinates = {{coord|-36.8485|174.7640|format=dms|type:landmark_region:NZ|display=inline,title}} | construction_start_date = | completion_date = | demolished_date = | height = | diameter = | other_dimensions = | floor_count = | floor_area = | main_contractor = | architect = | structural_engineer = | services_engineer = | civil_engineer = | other_designers = | quantity_surveyor = | awards = }}
'''Barry Lett Galleries''' was a dealer gallery focused on contemporary New Zealand art that operated in Auckland in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name ='RKS'>{{cite web|title=RKS archive|url=http://thecommunityarchive.org.nz/node/78567/description|website=The Community Archive: National Register of Archives and Manuscripts|accessdate=22 December 2014}}</ref>
==History== thumb|left|Barry Lett in 2015 Barry Lett Galleries was opened in 1965 by Barry Lett (1940–2017), who had graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts the previous year, Rodney Kirk Smith (1938-1996), and Frank Lowe, who had run Ikon Gallery with fellow architecture student Don Wood from 1960 to 1964.<ref name ='RKS'/><ref>{{cite web|title=Ikon Gallery archive|url=http://thecommunityarchive.org.nz/node/78469/description|website=The Community Archive: National Register of Archives and Manuscripts|accessdate=22 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Lett, Barry|url=http://findnzartists.org.nz/artist/8851/|website=Find New Zealand Artists|accessdate=22 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Barry Lett|url=http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/the-collection/browse-artists/2293/barry-lett|website=Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki|accessdate=22 December 2014}}</ref>
In the early 1960s a new generation of dealer galleries (often short-lived) arose in Auckland, encouraging people to see and buy contemporary New Zealand art.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Philips|first1=Jock|title=Painting - Abstraction|website=Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/painting/page-7|accessdate=22 December 2014|date=20 October 2014}}</ref> Barry Lett Galleries filled a gap left in the Auckland cultural scene by the closure of Ikon Gallery (which had shown, among others, Colin McCahon, Don Binney and Pat Hanly), as did Kees and Tina Hos's New Vision Gallery.<ref name ='New'>{{cite web|title=New Collectors Art|url=http://www.artandobject.co.nz/AuctionResources/328/CAT_80_NC.pdf|website=Art + Object|accessdate=22 December 2014}}</ref>
Barry Lett Galleries showed many of the leading painters of the 1960s and 1970s, including McCahon, Binney, Hanly, Milan Mrkusich, Gordon Walters, Ralph Hotere, Michael Smither, Rosemary Johnson, Michael Illingworth, Robert Ellis and Roy Good.<ref name ='New'/><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Parallel Universe: The Art and Design of Roy Good |url=https://teuru.org.nz/products/parallel-universe-the-art-and-design-of-roy-good-1 |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=Te Uru |language=en}}</ref> Unlike most commercial galleries, Barry Lett Gallery also showed the work of 'post-object' artist Jim Allen and his students at the Elam School of Fine Arts, such as Leon Narbey.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barton |first1=Christina |title=Post-object and conceptual art - The rise of post-object art'|website=Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/post-object-and-conceptual-art/page-2 |date=31 October 2014 |accessdate=18 October 2017}}</ref>
In 1975 the gallery celebrated its tenth anniversary with a show of two works each by 14 of its core artists, including McCahon, Binney, Hotere, Mrkusich, Illingworth and Teuane Tibbo.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Fletcher|first1=Bronwyn|title=Between Fine and Folk: The Paintings of Teuane Tibbo|journal=Art New Zealand|date=Summer 2002–2003|volume=105|url=http://www.art-newzealand.com/Issue105/tibbo.htm|accessdate=22 December 2014}}</ref>
Frank Lowe sold his interest to Kim Wright in 1966, and in 1975 Barry Lett left the gallery to paint full-time, leaving Rodney Kirk-Smith. In 1976 the gallery became known as RKS Art.<ref name ='RKS'/> RKS Art operated until July 1992.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22500236 |title=Rodney Kirk Smith Art Ltd |website=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=29 July 2025}}</ref>
==Barry Lett multiples==
In 1968 the gallery issued a set of prints by 12 of its artists: Binney, McCahon, Walters, Mrkusich, Illingworth, Hotere, Hanly, Ellis, Michael Smither, Mervyn Williams, Ross Ritchie, and Toss Woollaston.<ref name ='New'/> The prints were intended to make contemporary art more accessible to the public, and were priced at $35 before publication and $40 after.<ref name ='Grant'>{{cite web|title=Barry Lett Multiples|url=http://www.artis-jgg.co.nz/iframe1.asp?id=320&name=|website=Jonathan Grant Galleries|accessdate=22 December 2014}}</ref> Lett selected the twelve to reflect an 'up and coming' generation of new artists; the prints were not numbered but between 200 and 250 editions were believed to have been produced.<ref name ='Grant'/>
==Artists==
Artists shown at Barry Lett Galleries include:<ref>{{cite book|title=New Zealand Painting|date=1965|publisher=Auckland City Art Gallery|location=Auckland|url=http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/media/335271/cat73.pdf|accessdate=22 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=New Zealand Painting|date=1966|publisher=Auckland City Art Gallery|location=Auckland|url=http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/media/335301/cat79.pdf|accessdate=22 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=10 Years of New Zealand Painting in Auckland 1958-1967|date=1968|publisher=Auckland City Art Gallery|location=Auckland|url=http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/media/335311/cat81.pdf|accessdate=22 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=New Zealand Young Contemporaries|date=1971|publisher=Auckland City Art Gallery|location=Auckland|url=http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/media/6507944/1971_04.pdf|accessdate=22 December 2014}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
*Gretchen Albrecht *Don Binney *Linda Buis *Paul Cullen *Robert Ellis *Suzanne Goldberg *Roy Good *Pat Hanly *Ralph Hotere *Michael Illingworth *Tom Kreisler *Vivian Lynn *David Mealing *Selwyn Muru *Milan Mrkusich *Leon Narbey *Don Peebles *John Perry *Ross Ritchie *Peter Roche *Michael Smither *Paul Tangata *Geoff Thornley *Teuane Tibbo *M.T. Woollaston
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
Category:Art museums and galleries in Auckland Category:Museums in Auckland Category:Art museums and galleries established in 1965 Category:Auckland CBD Category:New Zealand art dealers