Artists of 20th Century

Colin McCahon, Rita Angus, and Toss Woollaston formed the trinity of native painters, who promoted modern art movement in New Zealand in the 20th century.

   The compositions of the pieces of art of these painters were intense and visionary. His works blend the beauty of New Zealand with their experience throughout their lives and trips abroad.

   Another great painter is Ralf Hotere who also focuses on the modern expressionist movement. His compositions focus on political movements, travel, poetry and religion like McCahon.

   These artists loved the landscapes of New Zealand, so his paintings reflect his feelings and appreciation for the beauty of this country.

Rita Angus (Henrietta Catherine Angus was born in Hastings on 12 March 1908 and died on 25 January 1970) was the eldest of seven children of William McKenzie Angus and Ethel Violet Crabtree. In 1921, her family moved to Palmerston North and she attended Palmerston North Girls' High School between 1922 and 1926. There her talent for art was recognized and she was encouraged to pursue it further.

 1927 and 1933 she began studying at the Canterbury College School of Art, where she never completed her diploma in fine arts.

1930 she exhibiting for first time with the Canterbury Society of Arts, her Self-portrait.

   1930 and 1934 she was married with the artist Alfred Cook, and after her divorce she signed many of her painting with the name of Rita Cook, and too with the name of R. Mackenzie or R. McKenzie, but the majority are signed Rita Angus.

  1931 the painting of Mount Taranaki, was a response to New Zealand's distinctive clear lighting. This painting was produced in a time when many people were concerned to create a distinctly New Zealand style and In the 1930s and 1940s she painted scenes of Canterbury and Otago. Finally on 1936 Rita Angus created one of the most famous painting calls Cass. Time more late she continued painting on Wellington landscapes particularly Thorndon and Island Bay, and completed more of her 55 self-portraits.

   Among Angus' influences were Byzantine art and cubism. She was also influenced by the English painter Christopher Perkins.

  

Colin John McCahon (was born 1 August 1919, Timaru and died 27 May 1987, Auckland) grew up attending the Maori Hill Primary School, Otago Boys High School and the Dunedin School of Art. He also spent a year in Oamaru during his primary school years. He was widely recognized as New Zealand’s foremost painter, his works encompassed many themes and styles, from landscape to figuration to abstraction and an innovative use of painted text. His adaption of aspects of modernist painting to a specific local situation and his intense engagement with spiritual matters, mark him out as a distinctive figure in twentieth-century art.

   The work of this artist was influenced for modernism, abstract expressionism, cubism and religion. the inspiration for created these painting was his deep devotion for religion, journeys, books that he read and his love for landscapes of New Zealand.

Some of his works are:

•  The Angel of the Annunciation, Takaka: Night and Day, and The Promised Land (which emerged in the years immediately after the war)
•  Otorgo Peninsula (1949)
•  The Wake and the Northland panels (1958, was created after the visit to United Estate) 
• Tomorrow will be the same but not as this is (1958-1959).

    

Ralph Hotere (was Born in Mitimiti, Northland, New Zealand 11 August 1931 and died 24 February 2013) was a New Zealand artist of Māori descent. He received his secondary education at St Peter's Maori College, Auckland. After early art training in Auckland, he moved to Dunedin in 1952, where he studied at King Edward Technical College. During the later 1950s, he worked as a schools art advisor for the Education Department in the Bay of Islands, and in 2003 received an Icon Award from the arts foundation of New Zealand

   In 1961 and 1962 studied in London, France and around Europe, these travels have a profound effect on Hotere’s work, notably in the “Sangro” and “Polaris” series of paintings.

   Also during the late 1960s, Hotere began the series of works with which he is perhaps best known, the Black Paintings. The inspiration for created these black painting was taken from poetry that speak of transcendence, of religion, or peace. These themes have extended to more recent works, notably the colossal "Black phoenix", constructed out of the burnt remains of a fishing boat.

   Political art; when Aramoana, a wetland near his Port Chalmers home, was proposed as the site for an aluminium smelter, Hotere was vocal in his opposition. This event, give him the inspiration to created the Aramoana series of paintings. More recently, his reactions to Middle-East politics have resulted in works such as "Jerusalem, Jerusalem" and "This might be a double cross jack".

  Toss Woollaston (Born 11 April 1910 in Toko, Taranaki and died 30 August 1998 in Upper Moutere) studied art at the Canterbury School of Art in Christchurch.

   In 1920s discovered the art of painting while working as a horticultural worker in the Nelson zone. In this time he was delighted by the tangible and sensuous qualities of paint as a means of expression.

   In 1934, studied two semesters at the Dunedin School of Art, and settled at Mapua, a township 30km east of Nelson. too Here he married Edith Alexander, had four children, and was part of a circle of prominent artists in the area which included Colin McCahon, Doris Lusk and Patrick Hayman.

   In 1949 relocated to Greymouth, where he responded enthusiastically to the dramatic West Coast landscape.

   In 1950s seem to take their cue from the scale of this landscape, increasing in size and suppressing pictorial detail for the slashing linear rhythms that connote elemental energy.

   By the mid-1960s Woollaston had travelled to Spain, England and the United States to study European works, exhibited his own work at the Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne.

   In 1970s the panoramic landscape paintings were seen as significant pieces of art which represented the familiar New Zealand landscape.

   In 1979 Woollaston was the first New Zealander named "Knight Bachelor" for his services to painting.

   As well as painting, Woollaston wrote, poetry, because had been his lifelong passion. His books included The Far-away Hills in 1960 and Sage Tea (his autobiography) in 1980.