The Aviatrix

This painting shows Rita Angus’s sister Edna dressed in a flying suit, cap and goggles. Edna learned to fly in the early 1930s, while living in Napier and working for her father’s construction business. She was the first woman member of the East Coast Aero Club to hold a pilot’s license.

The painting’s subject is significant. Although the first aeroplanes were flown in the very early years of the 20th century, it after the First World War that planes began to be more widely used. The figure of the aviator and, in particular, the female aviatrix, became a stand-in for modernity, independence and adventure. This was enabled in part by highly-publicised long distance flights, such as Charles Lindburgh’s crossing of the Atlantic in 1927 and Amelia Earhart’s solo Atlantic crossing in 1932. In New Zealand, the Australian aviator Charles Kingsford-Smith was greeted by 3000 Cantabrians when he flew into Christchurch after a Tasman crossing in 1933. The New Zealand aviatrix Jean Batten became a worldwide celebrity in 1934, when she beat Amy Johnson’s speed record for a flight from Britain to Australia.

This painting brilliantly conveys the modernity of its subject. Angus has chosen a simple, stark composition, with a minimal but very striking use of colour. The aviatrix looks out at the viewer with a direct regard – conveying the power and possibility of life as a modern woman.