Avenal McKinnon

McKinnon was born and raised in Christchurch and attended Woodford House in Havelock North, in the North Island, from 1962 to 1966. She completed a degree in English literature at the University of Canterbury followed by a post-graduate art history course at London's Courtauld Institute of Art. In the 1970s, she worked at the Tate, cataloguing the modern British collection.^[5]

She was appointed the first director of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery in 2005, retiring in 2014.^[6][7] During her tenure, the gallery expanded its permanent collection from six works to more than 200. It also moved into dedicated premises in Shed 11 on Queen's Wharf.^[4]

McKinnon is considered an expert on the work of New Zealand artist Frances Hodgkins and wrote articles and exhibition catalogues on her work.^[8][9]

McKinnon died in Wellington on 12 March 2021, aged 71 years.^[10][11]

McKinnon was the daughter of property developer Owen Gough, and granddaughter of industrialist Tracy "T.T." Gough. She had a twin brother, Antony Gough, and two older brothers, Tracy and Harcourt.^[12] She was married to New Zealand diplomat John McKinnon.^[5][6]