Study for memorial mural, Napier Girls' High School


Study for memorial mural, Napier Girls’ High School  1960
watercolour, 352 x 404 mm
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, on loan from the Rita Angus Estate


Rita Angus made these studies for a major commission in 1960 – a mural for the Napier Girls’ High School Assembly Hall. The mural was to commemorate the girls killed in the 1931 earthquake.

These studies show the key images from the mural in different arrangements – the ruins of the earthquake, the new town that grew out of them, Napier’s port and farmland, and the schoolgirls themselves. The sun symbolises the school’s motto, ‘Ad lucem’ (towards the light).

The mural measures 4.2 x 4.8 metres and is still displayed in the school’s assembly hall today.


> Back to Nocturnes and abstractions 1958-69


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