RITA ANGUS: AN ARTIST’S LIFE
Jill Trevelyan
Te Papa Press
REVIWED BY PETER STUPPLES
The publication of the current edition coincides with a further commemoration of Angus’ work, also at Te Papa, planned for December 2021, a group of 70 works originally destined for an exhibition at the Royal Academy in London that had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Biographies of visual artists are tricky exercises. Should they cover deeply researched information on the families and circumstances of origin of the subject that may show cultural contributions to their image-making; include details of their upbringing, professional training, exhibiting and sales-of-work history, their critical reception?
Should they add information about their sexual orientation, relationships to partners, friends and colleagues? What about their politics? And in the case of Angus, their vision?
Then there are witness statements, letters. All of these sources of information contribute to the scaffolding of an artist’s life, but what about the works of art themselves? Is the biography, at least in part, an opportunity to include illustrations, a critical assessment, exegesis?
Trevelyan’s is undoubtedly one of the best to try to do all of these things. Fortunately, there is a considerable legacy of information, correspondence, images and preparatory drawings, to enable an assessment of the contribution Angus made to the formation of New Zealand’s sense of a culture, her appreciation of the landscape, portraits of the movers and shakers of art, literature and music of her time.
But Trevelyan’s contribution goes beyond these larger issues to give a real sense of Angus as a woman determined to lead a life dedicated to her art and principles whatever the cost.
There is a heroism here that might give us pause to consider the value we place on the significance of the arts and artists in our community. We ultimately laud their work as marking who and what we are but offer precious little support for them during their lifetime. Or is it in the very struggle against the odds that their skills are honed and their character forged to heroic heights?
Rita Angus, as offered to us in this excellent biography, is most certainly a case in point.
London’s loss is fortunately a gain to Wellington.
Peter Stupples, now living in Wellington, used to teach at the University of Otago
