A Fashionable Line: the 'other' life of Kate Coolahan

A Fashionable Line: The 'other life' of Kate Coolahan

'Her sophisticated illustration and advertising campaigns advanced the standard of advertising work in New Zealand', Pro-Vice Chancellor, Dr Duncan Joiner, Massey University

In the 1950s and 60s, Kate Coolahan blazed a trail through New Zealand’s advertising world as a commercial artist. In particular, she excelled as a fashion illustrator. Today, few people are aware of Coolahan’s contributions to the advertising arena. In New Zealand art circles, she is better known as a print-maker, and is represented as such in Te Papa’s art collection. This narrative, however, traces Coolahan’s ‘other life’ as a commercial artist. It relates to a rich body of material – ephemera, preliminary designs, paste-up etc - from the artist's personal archive, which was acquired by Te Papa in 1998.

Kate Coolahan: Commercial and fine artist

'Post-war, there was an aching need for things of beauty.' Kate Coolahan, 2001

Kate Coolahan (née Castle) was born in Australia in 1929, and studied art at the East Sydney Technical College. In 1950, following her graduation from art school, Coolahan was snapped up by the art department of Farmer & Co, a sophisticated Sydney department store. It was an exciting time to enter the world of retail. By 1950, Australia’s ‘Austerity Campaign’ had come to an end, and Farmer’s was importing newly availably luxury products, the likes of which Coolahan had never seen before. At Farmer's Coolahan was put to work designing brochures, wrapping paper, packaging and advertising imagery. She quickly demonstrated a flair for fashion illustration.

The lure of Wellington

On the other side of the Tasman, Coolahan’s sophisticated and painterly illustrations for Farmer’s, caught the eye of the directors of New Zealand advertising agency J Inglis Wright Ltd, who were keen to enter the luxury market. On applying for a position, the agency offered Coolahan a three month trial. In 1952, aged just 23, she left Farmer & Co, bound for Wellington. The trial worked out for both parties, and Coolahan and her husband Max moved to Wellington permanently. In Wellington, Coolahan forged a stellar career in a male-dominated advertising world at a time when few married women pursued careers. However, life in the commercial world was not always easy for women. Despite her talent, Coolahan, as a married woman, found herself to be the first to be laid off in times of economic pressure. It is for this very reason that she kept a large portfolio of work at hand - a collection of work which forms the basis of her archive at Te Papa.

Carlton Carruthers du Chateau (1954-1957, 1960-62)

In 1954, Kate Coolahan left J Inglis Wright Ltd to join rival Wellington advertising agency Carlton Carruthers du Chateau and King (King left in 1959), a firm which was known for its ‘artistic character’. One of the agency’s key clients was Lane Walker Rudkin, a Christchurch-based clothing manufacturer. Coolahan designed packaging and promotional material for the company's Canterbury label, which included clothing, lingerie, hosiery, children’s wear, and swim wear. Coolahan left the agency in 1957 following an accident which affected the tendons in her right hand. During her recovery, Coolahan worked at the Dominion Museum (now Te Papa) as an Assistant Education Officer.

James Smith Ltd: An air of sophistication (1959–60, 1962–64)

By 1959 Coolahan was back in the advertising industry, working for James Smith Ltd, a leading Wellington department store. During her two stints at James Smith's, Coolahan created a memorable house style for the store's fashion campaigns, starring a gallery of smartly dressed, sophisticated city women. Coolahan became somewhat of a star herself – her advertisements attracted regular fan mail and requests to purchase her drawings. From 1962 to 1964, Coolahan worked part-time for James Smith’s following another stint at Carlton Carruthers du Chateau. The part time position enabled Coolahan to take up a part time teaching positions in the design department of Wellington Polytechnic and to study printmaking under the tutorage of John Drawbridge.

Freelancing and teaching: 1964 onwards

After leaving James Smith’s department store in 1964 to study and teach, Kate Coolahan continued to work as a freelance designer. Her clients included the Kapiti Coast fashion boutique, Maison Noisette and the New Zealand Broadcasting Association and NZBC Symphony Orchestra. Te Papa holds approximately 80 examples of preliminary and finished art work relating to the latter. Coolahan fondly remembers working for the NZ Broadcasting Association, commenting that 'they really let you rip’.

Kate Coolahan took up a full time teaching position in the School of Design at the Wellington Polytechnic in 1967. From 1972 to 1983 she taught part-time while also developing an international career as a print maker. In 2003, Massey University (previously Wellington Polytechnic), awarded Kate Coolahan an honorary doctorate. Of her contribution to the design sector, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Dr Duncan Joiner commented:

'Many of the current courses now being taught at the School of Design still bear the hallmarks created by Kate Coolahan some 40 years ago. Through her work at the School of Design - and her teaching of drawing in particular - she has influenced most of New Zealand's now prominent designers, and indeed some of the world's prominent designers'.