Rex Nan Kivell

Sir Rex de Charembac Nan Kivell CMG (born Reginald Nankivell, 8 April 1898 – 7 June 1977) was a New Zealand-born British art collector and dealer.

He attributed an early interest in collecting to Sydney Smith, an antiquarian book dealer in Christchurch whom Nan Kivell met while still at school.

Through the Redfern Gallery, Nan Kivell encouraged and helped to establish many British artists including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Graham Sutherland.

He also helped to introduce a number of important European artists to England such as Pierre Bonnard, Chaïm Soutine, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso and Édouard Vuillard.

Nan Kivell collected books, paintings, prints, documents, manuscripts and artefacts relating to the history of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.

In 1949 the first consignment of pictures, books and other material reached Canberra on loan to the Library, which then sought, over a decade, to bring the collection into Australian ownership.

[6][7] It has been suggested one of his motivations in selling his collection of Australiana at a fraction of its true value was to gain the knighthood he had long coveted for the purposes of social advancement.