Story: Woollaston, Mountford Tosswill

Toss Woollaston's 'Motueka Harbour', 1970

Toss Woollaston's 'Motueka Harbour', 1970

Nelson’s most famous artist, Toss Woollaston, painted this landscape, ‘Motueka Harbour’, in 1970. Woollaston knew Colin McCahon and the two influenced each other. Originally from Taranaki, Woollaston divided his adult life between the Nelson region (Māpua and Riwaka) and Greymouth on the West Coast (from 1949 to 1968). It was only in 1968, when he moved to Riwaka, that he was earning enough as a full-time artist to support his wife and four children. Woollaston died, aged 88, at Upper Moutere in 1998.

Using this item

The Suter - Te Aratoi o Whakatū, Nelson
Reference: Oil on board by Toss Woollaston, 1970

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How to cite this page:

Gerald Barnett. 'Woollaston, Mountford Tosswill', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 2000. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5w49/woollaston-mountford-tosswill (accessed 24 April 2024)