Rita Angus: Life and Vision

Rita Angus: Life and Vision documents the art and life of one of New Zealand’s best-loved artists.

Rita Angus is one of New Zealand’s most significant artists. Over four decades she painted clear hard-edged landscapes, and strong portraits that captured the distinctive personality of her subjects. She was a pioneer of modern painting in New Zealand and influenced many other well-known local artists.

Rita Angus: Life & Vision brings together 200 of her works. Some are paintings familiar to many New Zealanders – including Cass, Fay and Jane Birkinshaw, and Boats, Island Bay. There are also sketchbooks, studies for paintings, and unfinished works that give a unique insight into this artist’s approach to her work.

This exhibition is not only about the work, but also the life of a disciplined and dedicated artist. It explores the themes central to Angus’s vision – identity, spirituality, and nature – and offers insights into the society from which that vision emerged.

This major exhibition of the works of Rita Angus, created by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, will be at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu for 17 weeks in 2009.

Image credit: Self-portrait, 1936–37, by Rita Angus, oil paint on canvas, Dunedin Public Art Gallery