Most notably, she began a long friendship with secured the donation of Archdeacon Francis Smythe, which led to a major bequest of some 1,300 watercolours by a wide range of British artists, painted between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, to the DPAG and to the New Zealand National Art Gallery.
[3] She also formed relationships with other collectors such as Doris Monheimer, Dorothy Theomin and Eleanor Joachim, all of whom made bequests of art to the gallery on their deaths.
[1] One of her most outstanding acquisitions was Thomas Gainsborough and John Hoppner’s full-length portrait of Charlotte, Countess Talbot, purchased in 1958.
[1][2] Much of Pearse's success in acquisitions was due to her personal relationship with Sir Alec Martin, chair of the auction house Christie's from 1940 to 1958.
[4] In addition to expanding the collection, Pearse was responsible for improving the range of objects displayed in the gallery, and the quality of their presentation.