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Rutu  1951	A Goddess of Mercy  1945-47	Sun Goddess  1949
Douglas Lilburn  1945	St Luke  1953-55	The apple pickers  1944
Dona Nobis Pacem (Ralph Vaughan Williams)  1944	Theo Schoon  circa 1941-43	Portrait of R. Gormack, Esq.  1948-49
Head of a Maori Boy  1951	Schoolgirl  1950	Waterlilies  1950
Canna leaves and flowers  circa 1948	Cannas  circa 1948	Crocus  circa 1946
Orange leaves  circa 1948	Sea and palms  circa 1948	Red and orange begonia leaves  circa 1948
Sketch enclosed with letter to Douglas Lilburn  1943	Douglas Lilburn  1944-50	Riverside sketchbook  1940s
Girl in tartan  circa 1946	Figure at Sumner  circa 1949	Fair-haired woman with bird  circa 1948
Sketchbook  circa 1945

Douglas Lilburn

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This portrait of the composer Douglas Lilburn – whom Rita Angus knew by his second name, Gordon – was one of her most prized works.

After their love affair, Lilburn remained a crucial figure in Angus’s life – as a friend and also as a fellow artist. Like Angus, Lilburn was intensely committed to his work and had a strong sense of himself as an artistic pioneer in New Zealand.

Angus was candid about what this work meant to her: ‘The water-colour portrait is more than a peak in my painting life, it is of a very intimate nature, the expression of my long and deep devotion to Gordon.’