Self-portrait (with moth and caterpillar)


Listen to the audio track now:
  Download as mp3 (0.64 MB)

Self-portrait (with moth and caterpillar)  1943
pencil and watercolour, 330 x 240 mm
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, on loan from the Rita Angus Estate


Rita Angus began this self-portrait soon after moving to Clifton, a suburb of Christchurch, but left it unfinished. She stands on the beach, with symbols of growth and transformation around her.

Angus was withdrawing into her art. In 1943, she wrote: ‘I’ve grown weary of the militarist world, and I’m content to live quietly, painting, I’ve been drawing as long as I can remember, it’s so much a part of me … I haven’t any desire for success or the limelight, and no further wish to explain myself.’


> Back to Portraits and self-portraits 1939-52


All artworks are reproduced courtesy of the Estate of Rita Angus.