Indie Doc: The Man In The Hat > New Zealand

THE MAN IN THE HAT INDIE DOC Saturday 31st July at 9.30pm New Zealand Television Premiere



Art-dealer Peter McLeavey has spent some 40 years running his gallery in the centre of Wellington, opening the doors in the late 1960s.

Then, as now, McLeavey is the perfect gentleman - a beautifully turned out, unfailingly polite and greatly self-effacing figure. Sipping his coffee among the Cuba St crew, McLeavey might seem an anachronism. This timeless gentleman has introduced more support and revolution into the Wellington and New Zealand art scene than perhaps anyone before or since.

Toss Woollaston, Gordon Walters, Colin McCahon and a host of others might owe their careers to McLeavey's vision, and his eye is as sharp and bold now as it was 500 exhibitions ago.

His personal story is also the story of that part of the city where he lives and works. It is a film about a human being putting a stake in the ground rather than a documentary about New Zealand art.

The Man In The Hat reveals personal details about McLeavey’s life - Including his peripatetic childhood around the North Island as the son of an Irish Catholic railway worker, his early love of art, his determination from age 12 to visit Europe. How he discovered his New Zealand identity whilst living in London and how returning home to contribute to the country's culture as one of it's outstanding art dealers.

Get a personal insight into the world of Peter McLeavey, The Man In The Hat a New Zealand Television Premiere, Saturday 31st July at 9.30pm only on the Documentary Channel.