Self-portrait

'As a woman painter, I work to represent love of humanity and faith in mankind in a world which is, to me, richly variable and infinitely beautiful.' (artist statement by Rita Angus, 1947)

This self-portrait was published in the 1947 Year Book of the Arts in New Zealand, alongside Rita Angus’s artist statement, above.

This is one of the first paintings Angus signed with her maiden name, rather than Rita Cook, 13 years after separation from husband Alfred Cook in 1934. Angus never remarried. She was determined to make her own way, despite the social disapproval and financial challenges faced by divorced women at the time.