“[Saint John’s Wood School of Art] was very academic and had quite a traditional method of training. Edith became increasingly frustrated and sought out her own teachers, such as Margaret Preston and Frances Hodgkins, and ultimately extended herself far beyond those traditional academic limitations,” Jennifer Taylor, curator of collections at the Sarjeant Gallery and one of the three curators of the exhibition, said.
A portion of the paintings in Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist are from Collier’s time in Bonmahon, Ireland, where Collier travelled with Preston at a time when the mines, that community’s main source of income, had closed and poverty was rife.
Taylor has learned that Collier did what she could to help them by giving them clothing; her mother was sending over packages from New Zealand. “She was distributing these parcels along with Margaret Preston,” Taylor said.
A century later the Bonmahon community recognised their relationship with Collier in a celebration that spanned 2015-2016.
“I feel this demonstrates the legacy she left behind of genuine care and a deep connection with people and places. I think that comes through in the paintings. They are enjoyable to look at and the colour palette she used has a wonderful freshness.
“They also have depth so, no matter how often you look at them, you continue to see more things. There is a real timeless quality and a universal appeal that makes them still relevant right now.”
After Collier’s return to New Zealand, she spent time in Kāwhia in 1928 and painted sites significant for Tainui iwi, forming friendships with some of the kuia, whose portraits she painted.
Taylor believes the Kāwhia works demonstrate significant aspects of Collier’s character.
“It’s very clear that she was a person who made friends and really cared about people. It was pretty remarkable that she was able to befriend and paint these kuia at a time when tensions were very high because of the effects of the New Zealand Land Wars.”
While Collier exhibited her work in New Zealand, she sold very little, preferring to gift paintings to family. As a result, she was less well-known than other modernist artists such as Frances Hodgkins, and Australian Margaret McPherson (later Preston).
Today people are used to seeing modernist works, but when Collier returned from overseas in 1922 New Zealand art was very traditional and academically focused, isolated from the creative hubs of Europe. Her work was not properly understood, appreciated or well-received until after her death.
Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist is curated by art historian Jill Trevelyan, Taylor and the Sarjeant’s senior curator Greg Donson, and is the first major Edith Collier exhibition since 1999. It is displayed in one of the heritage building’s wings and takes viewers on a journey from Collier’s early studies at the Wanganui Technical College through works she produced during her years overseas, as well as those she produced when she returned to New Zealand.
The exhibition has a companion book, also called Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist, published by Massey University Press. Edited by the three exhibition curators, it contains more than 150 illustrations and contributions from 24 writers, plus new material written by the descendants of some of Collier’s subjects. It is available at the gallery and some bookshops. It has been longlisted for the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
When the artworks return from Australia, the exhibition will be reassembled for a New Zealand tour.
