Rita Angus: New Zealand Modernist

Rita Angus: New Zealand ModernistRita Angus: He Ringatoi Hou o Aotearoa

Rita Angus created a distinctive vision of a new, modern New Zealand. This landmark exhibition celebrates 40 years of her work.

When | Āhea

18 Dec 2021 – 25 Apr 2022

Where | Ki hea

Toi Art, Level 4

Cost | Te utu

Free entry

Accessibility | E wātea ana ki

wheelchair accessible
low, soft wire barriers in front of some art works
floor has some shallow slopes
wharepaku | toilet – all gender, accessible
large print labels in English and te reo Māori
AD devices available to borrow

Audio descriptions for Rita Angus: New Zealand Modernist

Find out more about accessibility at Te Papa

Rita Angus is one of New Zealand’s most iconic artists.

Over the course of her life she produced a remarkable body of drawings, watercolours, and paintings. A committed feminist, and a pacifist, Angus’ work was deeply entwined with her view of the world. In her portraits and landscape paintings, with their distinctive clear colours and flat, graphic style, she created a unique image of 20th-century Aotearoa.

This exhibition was developed in partnership by the Royal Academy of Arts, London and Te Papa.

Painting of a small orange single-building train station. Behind are large rolling hills and a cloudy sky. A man sits by the station, smoking a pipe.

Rita Angus, Cass, 1936, oil on canvas on board. © Reproduced courtesy of the Estate of Rita Angus. On loan from Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū

Rita Angus Art Studio

Get creative with activities inspired by Rita Angus’s artworks, in the Rita Angus: New Zealand Modernist art studio.

Experiment with the effects of colour layering, create a portrait using symbols and signs, or pick up a whānau trail and use it to explore the exhibition.

Free, for all ages.

People in the Rita Angus Art Studio, 2022. Te Papa

Activities

Painting of a rural scene. There are tall mountains and a lake in the distance, with a river running towards a town in the foreground

Audio descriptions for Rita Angus New Zealand Modernist

This audio descriptive introduction to Rita Angus: New Zealand Modernist, introduces the immersive first gallery and provides audio descriptions for a selection of paintings in this exhibition.

A paintbrush in a glass of water and swirling blue paint

A Painter’s Journey: Rita Angus’s Central Otago

This film celebrates Rita Angus’s artistic practice – diving into her painting Central Otago (1953–56/1969).

Immersive stories: Rita Angus paintings on Google Arts and Culture

Immerse yourself in ten stories about Rita Angus and some of her paintings from our collection on Google Arts and Culture. Learn about her life and thoughts while she was painting in locations around Aotearoa New Zealand.