Rita Angus
(1908 - 1970)

Rita Angus known as Rita Cook early in her career, was a New Zealand painter who, alongside Colin McCahon and Toss Woollaston, is regarded as one of the leading figures in twentieth-century New Zealand art. She worked primarily in oil and watercolour, and became known for her portraits and landscapes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Angus

Portrait of Betty Curnow
1942
Oil on canvas
64,7 x 77,5 cm
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland, New Zealand
https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artwork/3721/portrait-of-betty-curnow

Rita Angus’s compelling Portrait of Betty Curnow resulted from numerous preparatory sittings and discussions about portraiture. The two women collaborated by selecting the objects and costume which would best depict Curnow, her family life and her history. The items surrounding Curnow are imbued with personal symbolism. She is close to her family, seated on her grandmother’s chair before her father’s portrait. Her husband poet Allen Curnow’s presence is apparent through his many books. She holds her son Wystan’s trousers, which she was mending. A watercolour by Angus, which was a gift to the family, leans on the shelf. It refers to Curnow’s Canterbury childhood. Both the print of Jan Brueghel’s harvest scene and the repeating ovoid shapes allude to fertility. This portrait’s charisma has made it an emblem of New Zealand painting.