Gina Rinehart wrote to the National Gallery of Australia a month before the furore erupted about a portrait of her in the gallery, saying a “concerned friend” had brought it to her attention.
The email, released to Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws, was sent on behalf of Rinehart to Nick Mitzevich, the director of the NGA, and Ryan Stokes, the chair of the gallery, on 15 April.
Weeks later, the mining billionaire’s requests for the NGA to remove her portrait became public and made headlines around the world.
The painting of Rinehart was one of a series of influential Australians painted by Archibald prize-winning artist Vincent Namatjira, and hung as part of his first major survey exhibition, Australia in Colour, at the Canberra gallery.
Namatjira’s arguably unflattering portrait of Rinehart hung alongside images of Queen Elizabeth II, the football player Adam Goodes, Ned Kelly, and a self-portrait of the artist himself.
The email sent from Rinehart to Mitzevich and Stokes in April has been heavily redacted but appeared to highlight “paintings a concerned friend sent me”. Another part of the message urges the gallery to “plan differently”, though the context is unclear because of the redaction.
The redacted email from Rinehart reads:
“Dear Ryan and Dr Mitzevich,
“I’ve had the pleasure of attending annual functions for the National Art Gallery several times, done fantastically, very enjoyable, even uplifting.
“To have a National Art Gallery that presents the best our country has to offer, makes us proud of our nation and inspires people (including with outstanding artworks from other countries) is, in my view, a very worthy purpose [the rest of the sentence is redacted].
“To be direct, the paintings a concerned friend sent me which I wrote to Ryan about (and he’s suggested I include writing to you) [a large section is then redacted].
“In my view, and I believe that of many, many good Australians, our National Gallery should plan differently, and [the remainder is redacted].
It was signed: Sincerely, Gina Rinehart.
Mitzevich responded two days later, thanking Rinehart for “her correspondence”.
“I am not sure if you have seen the exhibition in person, however I wanted to give you some further context,” he wrote. “One of the portraits you referenced is part of a 21-panel painting, of 20 famous subjects with Vincents’ own self-portrait, all painted with a similar rawness reflecting the artist’s intention to convey that everyone in Australia is equal.”
Mitzevich described Namatjira’s style as “certainly his own and he approaches a broad range of subjects with equanimity and humour”.
Mitzevich continued, saying the gallery’s aim is to “present works of art to the Australian public to inspire people to explore, experience and learn about art. Sometimes these works may be unpopular of challenging”.
He invited Rinehart to visit the gallery when next in Canberra for a tour of the collections.
The exhibition ended on 21 July, but attracted global attention in mid-May after reports Rinehart had lobbied the gallery to remove her image.
In July, Mitzevich sent a warning to the federal arts minister that Rinehart was “rallying” influential friends to voice complaints about the portrait.
Documents obtained by Guardian Australia under FoI in July revealed Mitzevich said he wanted to alert the government about the campaign “in case these matters are raised by the Leader of the Opposition (who is close to Mrs Rinehart), so the Minister can be prepared”.
