{{Short description|New Zealand photographer and gallery director (1893–1975)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_suffix = O.B.E | birth_date = 2 August 1893 | birth_place = Norwich, Norfolk, England | death_date = 11 October 1975 (aged 82) | death_place = Christchurch | alma_mater = Canterbury College School of Art | known_for = Caricatures, photography, design and art museum management | elected = New Zealand Society of Artists, Honorary Life Member of the Canterbury Society of Arts, Vice Chairman AGMANZ }}
'''William (Billy) Sykes Baverstock''' OBE FRSA (2 August 1893 – 11 October 1975)<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=13 October 1975 |title=Deaths |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19751013.2.178.2 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=27}}</ref> was an illustrator, photographer, arts administrator and the first Director of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery in Christchurch, New Zealand.
== Early history == Baverstock was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England. His parents William and Alice Baverstock (née Sykes) moved to Christchurch in 1901 when Baverstock was eight for his father to take charge of the lithographic department at The Press newspaper. Baverstock senior was highly regarded as an artist, designer and was skilled in drawing.<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 June 1964 |title=Obituary |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19640617.2.174 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=16}}</ref> Baverstock began his early schooling at a private school in Norwich and went on to attend West Christchurch District High School. By the age of 13 he had proved himself as talented in drawing and won a local Art Society children’s art competition.<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 May 1906 |title=Local and General |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19060507.2.21 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=Christchurch Star |pages=2}}</ref> In 1910 he went to work in his father’s department at The Press where he remained for the next 18 years.<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 March 1960 |title=Art Gallery Director |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19600317.2.81 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=12}}</ref> He was also able to attend the Canterbury College School of Art where he excelled in drawing and caricature.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 September 1913 |title=Among the exhibits |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19130920.2.51 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=7}}</ref> In 1915 Baverstock was awarded a First Class pass for Drawing from Life. (Same class as Ngaio Marsh)<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 December 1915 |title=School of Art |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNCH19151216.2.60 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=Sun (Christchurch) |pages=8}}</ref> He later said of his talent, ‘I must admit, too, that although I attended art school for some time, my appreciation of good drawing came mostly from my father.’<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 July 1973 |title=Retrospective Art Display Opens |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19730709.2.139 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=16}}</ref>
== Canterbury Society of Arts == Baverstock established himself as an artist and key player in the Christchurch arts community from an early age and showed at the Canterbury Society of Arts (CSA) regularly from 1913 when he also received a CSA Diploma for Caricature.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1 October 1913 |title=Arts and Crafts Exhibition |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT19131001.2.105 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=Lyttelton Times |pages=11}}</ref> By 1917 he had joined the CSA as a working member which he remained until 1972. Throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s Baverstock continued with his personal art and design practice. His illustrations, caricatures and photography were often used as illustrations in magazines and journals.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 October 1934 |title=Publications Received |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19341020.2.13.4 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=Otago Daily Times |pages=4}}</ref> His work also attracted national attention with his designs published as first day covers for the Health Camp movement<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 September 1938 |title=Current Notes |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19380917.2.8.1 |access-date=17 February 2021 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=2}}</ref> and his drawings and caricatures exhibited in major exhibitions such as the New Zealand Centennial.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Centennial Exhibition 1940 |url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/media/uploads/2014_04/NewZealandArtACentennialExhibition1940.pdf |access-date=17 February 2025}}</ref> Throughout this period he continued to develop his interests in arts administration and in 1934 he was elected to the council of the New Zealand Society of Artists and in 1943 became Secretary / Treasurer of the Canterbury Society of Arts. He filled this role for the next 16 years. It was said on his retirement that during his tenure he had signed more than10,000 receipts, taken only one day off for illness, and managed 31 large-scale exhibitions.<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 March 1960 |title=Society of Arts |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19600303.2.62 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=7}}</ref>
== The Group == In 1927, Baverstock was sharing a studio with other former students from the art school including Cora Wilding, Margaret Anderson, William Montgomery, Ngaio Marsh, Evelyn Polson, and Edith Collier and together they formed the influential The Group<ref>{{Cite web |title=In Plain Sight |url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/bulletin/205/in-plain-sight |access-date=17 February 2025}}</ref> The first exhibition was held in the studio at 109 Cashel Street which had been the old linotype room of The Press.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 August 1927 |title=Women's Corner |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19270804.2.8 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=2}}</ref> Two years later Baverstock was one of nine artists in the first Group Show to be presented together with a full catalogue of works which was held in the CSA’s Durham Street Gallery.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Group 1929 |url=https://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Publications/Art/TheGroup/pdfs/1929.pdf |access-date=17 February 2025}}</ref> He also acted as The Group’s spokesperson,<ref>{{Cite journal |date=September 1929 |title=The Group |journal=Art in New Zealand}}</ref> exhibited in a number of early shows, and later was one of the 33 artists, including Colin McCahon, Toss Woollaston, Doris Lusk, Rita Angus and Rata Lovell-Smith, selected for the 1947 ''20 Year Retrospective Group Show''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Group 1947 |url=https://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Publications/Art/TheGroup/pdfs/1947.pdf |access-date=17 February 2025}}</ref>
== The Savage Club == Baverstock joined the Savage Club in 1922 and remained a member for over 50 years.<ref>{{Cite news |date=11 May 1962 |title=Presentation at Savage Club |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19620511.2.178 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=16}}</ref> The Club was a men’s only social club at this time devoted to cultural activities.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Savages: Artist Members of the Christchurch Savage Club |url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/exhibitions/savages-artist-members-of-the-christchurch-savage- |access-date=17 February 2025}}</ref> Baverstock became known as its ‘honorary caricaturist’.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=21 August 1969 |title=A Man Who is Too Busy to Retire |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=1}}</ref> As well as participating in the cultural activities of the club Baverstock was also active in committee work and particularly in the Clubs’ efforts to develop Health Camps.<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 January 1949 |title=Glenelg Health Camp |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19490125.2.4.1 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=2}}</ref> Later, in 1935, he was appointed to the management committee of Children's Health Camps which was responsible for planning the health camps of New Zealand.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=13 October 1975 |title=Christchurch Authority on Art Dies at 82 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19751013.2.97 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=16}}</ref>
== Robert McDougall Art Gallery == In December 1948 Baverstock was appointed Honorary Curator of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 December 1968 |title=Art Gallery Retirement |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19681210.2.140 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=18}}</ref> and continued working at both the Gallery and the CSA for the next 11 years.<ref name=":0" /> His appointment came after considerable criticism of the Gallery from the CSA demanding increased funding for purchases and the appointment of a curator. Such criticism often came via Baverstock himself.<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 March 1948 |title=McDougall Art Gallery |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19480319.2.9 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=2}}</ref> The new position was largely administrative with little independence as the City Council had to approve all purchases as well as programming.<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 June 1958 |title=Art Exhibition for City |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19580618.2.181 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=16}}</ref> Baverstock now filled two demanding positions. John Simpson, who headed the Canterbury College Art School, recalled that Baverstock was usually to be found at the CSA ‘behind locked doors.’ He then ‘would precede to the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, which he opened to the public from 2pm until 4:30pm’.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fishburn |first=Petrena |title=Barbara Brooke: A Trend-Setting Art Professional in New Zealand |date=2014 |publisher=University of Canterbury}}</ref> The appointment to the McDougall came at a controversial moment with Baverstock represented on both sides of what would become a long-lasting controversy over the purchase and gifting of the painting ''The Pleasure Garden'' by Frances Hodgkins to the Robert McDougall collection. In 1951, when the gift was eventually accepted Baverstock promised it a, 'most prominent position—in the gallery.’<ref>{{Cite news |title=The Pleasure Garden . |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19511211.2.3 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=1}}</ref> In 1960, after 12 years as Honorary Curator, Baverstock was appointed Director of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery. He was still required to run the Gallery virtually single-handed under 'unenviable conditions'.<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 November 1965 |title=Administration of Gallery Attacked |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19651118.2.162 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=18}}</ref> As the McDougall’s director he presented a number of contemporary exhibitions including:
1960 ''Contemporary New Zealand Painting'' and ''Barbara Hepworth Sculpture''
1961 ''Paintings from the Pacific''
1962 ''Recent British Sculpture''
1964 ''Three British Painters''
1965 ''Painting in Australia: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries'', ''Henry Moore'', ''The James Michener Collection of American Paintings'' and ''New Zealand Painting 1965''
1966 ''Aspects of New British Art''
1967 ''Marcel Duchamp: The Mary Sisler Collection''
1968 ''Australian Sculpture Exhibition''
1969 ''Frances Hodgkins (1869–1947) Centennial Memorial Exhibition''
'''NOTE:''' Detailed information on each of these exhibitions can be found [https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/exhibitions/?section=exhibitions&type=archive here].
Throughout the 1960s Baverstock was also able to bring important works into the collection featuring Canterbury content including works by Petrus Van der Velden, J C Hoyte and John Gibbs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vangioni |first=Peter |date=18 April 2012 |title=Across the Main Divide |url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/blog/behind-the-scenes/2012/04/across-the-main-divide |access-date=18 February 2025}}</ref> but the overall tone of the Gallery during Baverstock’s directorship was the presentation of traditional and conservative art.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 August 1969 |title=Council Says Farewell to Mr Baverstock |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19690823.2.132?end_date=11-12-1970&items_per_page=10&phrase=2&query=Council+Says+Farewell+to+Mr+Baverstock+&snippet=true&start_date=11-12-1950&title=CHP#researcher-tools-tab |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=14}}</ref> This approach embroiled Baverstock in yet another controversy in 1969 when a City Councillor insisted on the removal of two works from the ''Marcel Duchamp'' exhibition. They included the readymade urinal ''Fountain'' (1917). Art students in protest brought a chamber pot to the opening and placed it in the exhibition.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 July 1967 |title=Protests by Students |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19670728.2.120 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=12}}</ref> ''Fountain'' was too much for Baverstock who told the press, ‘I don't mind a bit of good clean fun in the art world—but you have to draw the line somewhere… ''Fountain'' belongs to a display of plumbing.’<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 July 1967 |title=Council Bans Two Works from Duchamp Exhibition |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19670726.2.9 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=1}}</ref> By 1968 a petition ''A Desirable Public Gallery for Christchurch'' was circulating around the Christchurch art scene, a sign of growing impatience with Baverstock’s conservative positioning.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=McCredie |first=Athol |title=New Zealand Art Museums in the 1970s:MA thesis Master of Arts in Museum Studies |date=1999 |publisher=Massey University}}</ref> The following year he retired at the age of 76, the local press commended his dedication, ‘He managed 90 major exhibitions for the Christchurch City Council, and 31 for the Arts Society. For many of these he prepared the catalogues and wrote all the advertising. In addition, he developed a print lending scheme and, without fee, attended to hundreds of inquiries about works of art.’<ref name=":1" /> Baverstock was replaced by 26 year old Brian Muir.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 June 1982 |title=The Directors |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19820615.2.117.2 |access-date=22 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=19}}</ref> The effect of Muir’s appointment in 1969 would be dramatic. As art historian and curator Athol McCredie noted, the budget for purchasing artworks increasing from $2,000 in 1968/69 to $30,000 in 1974 with the collection grew dramatically from 610 items owned by the gallery in 1969 to 1,791 in 1976.<ref name=":2" /> Baverstock died on 11 October 1975 in Christchurch.<ref name=":3" />
== Awards and recognition == 1934 Elected to the council of the New Zealand Society of Artists.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 February 1959 |title=Move to Encourage More Artists to Exhibit |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19590220.2.47 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=7}}</ref>
Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Early New Zealand Photographers and Their Success |url=https://canterburyphotography.blogspot.com/2010/06/baverstock-william-sykes.html |journal=New Zealand Photographic Society}}</ref>
1960 Appointed Honorary Life Member of the Canterbury Society of Arts.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 December 1960 |title=Society of Arts Life Members |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19601202.2.147 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=16}}</ref>
1968 Awarded an OBE for services to the arts.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 January 1968 |title=Knighthood for Maori Leader and Business man |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19680102.2.31 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=3}}</ref>
1969 Elected Vice Chairman of AGMANZ.<ref>{{Cite news |date=8 April 1969 |title=The Art Gallery and Museums' Association of New Zealand) (Museum Officers |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19690408.2.90 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=14}}</ref>
1973 Exhibition of Baverstock’s caricatures, designs and drawings presented at the CSA Gallery.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 July 1973 |title=Thirty-five Years of Artist's Work |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19730712.2.201 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=19}}</ref>
1973 The Baverstock Memorial Lecture ‘to promote understanding between the Māori and the Europeans’ was instituted at the Canterbury Museum.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 October 1977 |title=Hangi to Welcome Lecturer |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19771012.2.49 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=6}}</ref>
1980 ''In Memory of William Sykes'' ''Baverstock, O.B.E., F.R.S.A.'' a memorial booklet published by H S Baverstock.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 February 1980 |title=A Life in Support of Arts |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19800202.2.97.6 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Press (Christchurch) |pages=15}}</ref>
== Collections == [https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23167157?search%5Bil%5D%5Bcategory%5D=Images&search%5Bpath%5D=items&search%5Btext%5D=%22Baverstock%22 National Library]
[https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search/baverstock/results Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand]
== References ==
<references />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baverstock, William}} Category:1893 births Category:1975 deaths Category:New Zealand art curators Category:20th-century New Zealand artists Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire