In 1988, Christopher Johnstone succeeded Rodney Wilson as director. During his 8 years as director major exhibitions included "Pablo Picasso: The artist before nature" (1989), "Rembrandt to Renoir", which attracted a record attendance for an exhibition charge exhibition of 210,000 (1993) and, in 1995, a programme marking the centennial of the artist's visit to the gallery, including the exhibition "Paul Gauguin: Pages from the Pacific" and a major book: "Gauguin and Maori Art". Other achievements during his incumbency were the funding and development of the New Gallery for contemporary art, which opened in 1995, the establishment of Haerewa, the Maori Advisory Group and a significant range of acquisitions for the collection and the Mackelvie Trust including works by including works by Vanessa Bell, John Nash, John Tunnard, Anish Kapoor, Jesus Rafael Soto and Ed Ruscha.