Click on the thumbnails below to find out more.

Central Otago  1953-56/1969	Arrowtown (Coronet Peak from Speargrass Flat)  1953	Sketch for Central Otago (Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables)  1953
Sketch for Central Otago (Naseby)  1953	Sketch for Central Otago (Naseby)  1953	Sketch for Central Otago (Cecil Peak, Arrowtown)  1953
Sketch for Central Otago (Naseby)  1953	Flood, Hawke’s Bay  1955-56	Flood, Hawke’s Bay  1955
Landscape with Arum Lily  1953	Fungi  circa 1956-57	Landscape with Sea  1953
Mangonui  1953	Mangonui  1953	Northland  circa 1955
Clouds and sea  circa 1953	Clouds and sea  circa 1953	Harbour scene and bush  1950
Waikanae  1951	Seashore, Waikanae  1952	Seascape, heatwave  1949
Iris  1953	Garden, Waikanae  circa 1952	Colour notes  1950s
Plum tree at Waikanae  1952	Autumn  1951

Mangonui

Click on the image to zoom in

Rita Angus visited friends at Mangonui in Northland in 1953 and was captivated by the landscape: ‘Linear flowing hills, subtle & quick changes in mood & colour, an inner harbour, calm & stormy.’ She often sketched outdoors there, producing quick, fluent watercolours such as these.

The year after, Angus decided to sell her house at Clifton, Christchurch, and move to Mangonui – but the experiment was not a success. She missed the galleries, bookshops, and libraries of city life. As she remarked on another occasion, ‘I thought I could be a more simple hermit than I am.’