Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Editorial: Rita Angus reintroduced to Hastings

By Mark Story
Hawkes Bay Today·
30 Sep, 2016 05:06 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

WELCOME HOME: Painter Rita Angus, who was born in Hastings, has re-emerged as street art. PHOTO SUPPLIED

WELCOME HOME: Painter Rita Angus, who was born in Hastings, has re-emerged as street art. PHOTO SUPPLIED

I had the great fortune last week of bumping into renowned artist Rita Angus.

She was all business in a tan jacket, dark gloves and a forest-green scarf that matched her earrings.

She leant up against a shop wall, sultry and smouldering like the cigarette in her hand.

Thing is, of course, she's long dead, but it was stunning to see her larger than life self-portrait on Warren Street.

She's one of eight Hastings "Icons" introduced to Hastings CBD by Hastings District Council. The welcome series "celebrates the people and things which have helped make Hastings the place it is today".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It's a great initiative for many reasons, but of all the chosen subjects, Ms Angus is by far and away my favourite.

Not just because of the clout she wields in this country's art history, but because not many in this region know the lauded painter was born in Hastings, on March 12, 1908.

She was later to live and work in the bigger cities. Her biographer Jill Trevelyan wrote the she struggled with marriage, due in part to being unable to reconcile the conflicting roles of wife and artist.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She wrote Angus' art from the late 1930s and early 1940s was described as "regionalist", because of its realist style and its apparent celebration of a specific time and locality.

In other words, the Hastings old girl had a strong pride in place. She accepted a mural commission for Napier Girls' High School and made annual visits to her parents in Napier, culminating in her work Fog, Hawke's Bay (1966-68).

She died in 1970, and without doubt, is the Bay's most highly regarded artist.

Which is why her sudden inclusion on the Hastings' streetscape is a cultural masterstroke.

She may have painted about 55-self-portraitrs in her life, but I'm happy to have just this one.

A leading figure in twentieth century New Zealand art, she once wrote: "As a woman painter, I work to represent love of humanity and faith in mankind in a world, which is to me, richly variable and infinitely beautiful".

She well deserves her new spot.

Kudos to council for reintroducing this formerly lost, provincial treasure.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay
Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Some roads remained blocked.

17 Jul 06:02 AM
'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues
Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

17 Jul 04:06 AM
Premium
Premium
Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

17 Jul 04:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP