Overview
These textiles are associated with celebrated New Zealand photographer Ans Westra and represent aspects of her art training.
Anna Jacoba (Ans) Westra was born in Leiden, Netherlands, in 1936, the only child of Pieter Hein Westra and Hendrika Christina van Doorn. Ans’ childhood was a solitary one, as her parents ran a business in Leiden and Ans was left to her own devices much of the time.
Although Ans is best known as a photographer, her training was in artistic needlework. She studied towards a Diploma in Art and Craft teaching at the Industrieschool voor meisjes in Rotterdam from 1953-1957, and it was during those studies that she produced these needlework samples. Ans’ daughter Lisa recalls that this was a special time in Ans’ life, as she stayed in the boarding school and grew very close to the other students. They were some of the first people Ans photographed, and she kept in touch with them for many years after moving to New Zealand.
The samples demonstrate a range of artistic influences including The Bauhaus, which stressed the connection between fine art and craft, and Modernism, defined by a tendency to abstraction and an emphasis on techniques and materials.
As Leonard Bell discusses in Strangers Arrive, Westra was among a diverse group of photographers who came to New Zealand after World War Two and introduced ideas and practices from continental Europe. Although the needlework samples are not directly related to Westra’s primary mode of artistic output, they allow us to consider aspects of her training and the ideas that influenced her later work.
References:
Bell, Leonard. 2017. Strangers Arrive: Emigres and the Arts in New Zealand, 1930-1980. Auckland: Auckland University Press.
Bieringa, Luit, dir. 2006. Ans Westra – Private Journeys/Public Signposts. Documentary. BWX Productions.