Click on the thumbnails below to find out more.
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| Self-portrait 1929 | Poplar trees 1929-30 | Blythe’s Buildings, Napier 1932 |
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| Ruins, Napier circa 1932 | Shakespeare Road, Napier 1932 | The Duvauchelles pub and hills 1933 |
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| Riverbed, Waiau 1932 | Mt Stewart, Waiau, North Canterbury circa 1931-32 | The Rape Paddock, Northern Hawke’s Bay circa 1935 |
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| Hill landscape, North Canterbury 1934 | The Aviatrix 1933 | Mountain biological station, Cass 1936 |
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| Mountain biological station, Cass 1936 | Mountains, Cass 1936 | Mountains, Cass 1936 |
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| Cass 1936 |
Self-portrait
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Self-portrait 1929
oil on canvas, 470 x 380 mm
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, on loan from the Rita Angus Estate
In this early self-portrait, Rita Angus presents herself as a poised and confident young woman. Casually dressed in a work shirt and a beret, she might have come straight from a class at art school.
Angus was enjoying a new sense of independence when she painted the picture. She had just left her strict university hostel and was now living with friends.
‘Making use of my newly acquired freedom,’ she wrote, ‘I painted six landscapes and one self portrait. The following March … the self portrait was hung at the annual art exhibition, creating a mild sensation.’
> Back to Early work 1929-36