Story: Gender inequalities

Rita Angus (2nd of 2)

Rita Angus

Even with family and professional support, women artists were often sidelined. Painter Rita Angus was helped by her well-off family. She went to art school and became part of The Group, a set of Christchurch artists whose exhibitions represented the latest trends in New Zealand art. However, Angus’s work was not well understood in her lifetime and only became widely appreciated in the 1980s. This is her 1938 portrait of Fay and Jane Birkinshaw. Fay was to become well-known as the author Fay Weldon.

Using this item

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Reference: 1998-0028-3
Oil on canvas by Rita Angus

Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Anne Else, 'Gender inequalities - Arts and culture', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/28655/rita-angus (accessed 19 March 2024)

Story by Anne Else, published 5 May 2011, reviewed & revised 20 Jun 2018