'Significant discovery': Rita Angus Hawke's Bay landscape to be auctioned in Australia

Hawkes Bay Today

20 Apr, 2022 02:17 AM2 mins to read

The Rita Angus work is clearly a Hawke's Bay subject, but its title is undocumented.

A "significant discovery" of a painting by renowned Hawke's Bay artist Rita Angus is expected to fetch upwards of $380,000 at auction in Australia in May.

The 55.5 x 75.5 cm oil on board of a Hawke's Bay landscape is being auctioned by leading Australian fine art auction house Deutscher and Hackett on May 4.

The painting has an estimated sale range of A$350,000 to A$450,000 ($380,000 to $480,000).

It is believed to be the first time an Angus painting has been auctioned in Australia, and the Deutscher and Hackett catalogue notes it is ''only rarely that a new painting comes to light – one which has never been published".

"In that respect, this Hawke's Bay landscape is a significant discovery – a luminous, beguiling image, and a fascinating example of the artist's work."

Painted in 1955, it was acquired by Mrs N. E Bowater, from Christchurch, before being sold into a private collection, in Christchurch, in about 1960.

From there, it made its way into a private collection in Melbourne, before being presented for auction in 2022.

The work is clearly a Hawke's Bay subject, but its title is undocumented.

Do you recognise the location in this Rita Angus painting?
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In 2016, Adrian Thornton pastes a picture of Rita Angus on the wall of what was then Ya Bon Bakery, in Warren St, Hastings.

The Deutscher and Hackett catalogue describes Angus, who died in 1970 aged 61, as one of the most important figures in 20th century New Zealand art, and one who is beginning to achieve wider recognition.

"In September 2020, she was scheduled to have a major exhibition at the Royal Academy in London – a project unfortunately cancelled, just months before it was due to open, as a consequence of the global pandemic.

"That exhibition, Rita Angus: A New Zealand Modernist – He Ringatoi Hou o Aotearoa, was recently shown at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa''.