The Press Art Collection Saturday, 3 October 2026 / 11:00 am start
A. Elizabeth Kelly - 'Canterbury Museum' Oil on Canvas
Current Bid $420 (41 bids, reserve met)
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Lot Details
A. Elizabeth Kelly (1877-1946) 'Canterbury Museum' Oil on Board Signed bottom right on recto Undated Titled on verso 451 x 600mm The Press' Private Archival Collection Additional Information: Good condition Framed without glass Information on back Born in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Elizabeth Kelly (née Abbott) attended the Canterbury College School of Art from 1891–1901 and showed early promise in portraiture. She won regular prizes for her modelling from life, including at the 1906–07 Christchurch International Exhibition. Kelly later became one of New Zealand’s leading society portrait painters, showing her work in exhibitions in London, Edinburgh and Paris and was credited for revitalising formal portraiture in the 1920s and 1930s. Despite her achievements, Kelly’s naturalistic style fell out of favour with the emergence of modernism, and her work became representative of a conservative mode of painting which contrasted the approaches of a younger generation, including Colin McCahon and Toss Woollaston. Sensitive to the character of her sitter, Kelly’s portraits nevertheless capture the spirit of her age amongst a well-heeled, privileged sector of society. In 1938 she became the first woman artist to achieve official recognition with the award of a C.B.E for services to the arts.
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