Marjorie Marshall

This portrait is of Rita Angus’ friend Marjorie Marshall. It was painted in 1938/39, after a visit to stay with Marshall and her husband William at their house in Wānaka. Marshall was also an artist, and the two friends had met at art school in Christchurch. During Angus' visit, the women spent many days out sketching the Central Otago landscape. Angus produced a large body of watercolours on the trip, several of which were exhibited in a show by the Christchurch collective The Group, in August of that year.

This painting combines the two main strands of Angus’ practice – portraiture and landscape – in a work of particular boldness and intensity. Through bright slabs of colour and light, she evokes both the drama of the Central Otago Alps and the affection and warmth of her friendship with Marshall. The painting was originally intended to be accompanied by a self-portrait of Angus in the same landscape. This self-portrait was never finished, and is now in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia: Self-portrait (Wanaka)

As was typical of her practice, Angus made small changes to the portrait of Marjorie Marshall in 1943. Angus rarely sold her paintings and would often return to them over the course of many years, making small adjustments to the colour or composition.