Part Three

Auckland’s Women Artists: 1970s 

Part Four

Auckland’s Women Artists: 1980s

 

by Katryn Baker*

A big factor of women artists is the sociological factors which enrich our understanding of women in the history of art. For instance, there is the way in which women have banded together for support and encouragement. 

Social and cultural factors of the 1970s made for an interesting decade and a diverse range of women artists in Auckland. There were plenty of women who possessed artistic excellence and contributed their talents in a variety of ways during this decade. But disappointingly and perhaps not surprisingly, a lot of these women were not recognised satisfactorily despite their efforts in keeping Auckland’s art scene refreshing and inventive. 

This article will explore the ways in which women built supportive networks to foster connections and solidarity with one another. This came in the form of women-dominated art groups and the establishment of multiple women-run magazines, prioritising women having the opportunity to express their ideas and opinions. With their landscape paintings, Rena Manson and Peggy Spicer, both members of the ‘Tuesday Group,’ continued to enhance the beauty of New Zealand’s scenery, engaging with the national identity narrative that had been imposed on painters since the 1930s. At the same time, several women in Auckland including Gretchen Albrecht, Bronwynne Cornish and Una Platts were weighing in on issues that artists faced in newly produced feminist magazine Broadsheet. Jacqueline Fahey would also feature in Broadsheet, as well as the women’s art magazine Spiral. Jacqueline would draw attention to the realities of pursuing art as a full-time career and become one of the leading artists to paint from a feminist perspective. 

 

Watercolourists in Auckland 

Rena Manson was primarily a watercolourist and was proficient at producing idyllic scenes of New Zealand landscapes. She was also integrated into Auckland’s art scene. As an artist, Rena was lectured by Lois White at Elam, later worked closely with Ida Eise, and also developed a friendship with Bessie Christie, all artists I discussed in article one. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Rena had joined the New Zealand Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps, where she met Bessie for the first time. In the post-war years, Rena endured the tragic death of her husband, Jack Manson – the two of them had only been married a short time. Jack’s death was possibly why Rena would be such an active participant in the local art scene from the 1970s onwards, she would likely have had more time and freedom for artistic endeavours than her peers with husbands and children. 

Rena kept scrapbooks of her life, providing a glimpse into her experiences as an artist in Auckland. She had a wide and eclectic circle of friends and belonged to multiple artist groups over her years. This included the New Zealand Fellowship of Artists and the Auckland Society of Arts (ASA), the latter being the longest-standing, and most esteemed art group in Auckland’s history. She was also part of the ‘Tuesday Group’ where she would regularly contribute her paintings for every meeting. 

The Tuesday Group was a lesser-known collective that was comprised predominantly of women artists who joined forces to exhibit their works, as it was easier to establish group exhibitions than solo exhibitions. The Tuesday Group would also hold monthly criticism meetings where they would offer feedback on each other’s art. These meetings were often at Dorothy Morton’s home, one of the members of this group. Ida Eise was a highly respected member of the Tuesday Group and was the designated judge for these monthly meetings. The best-known art critics in Auckland were still predominantly men, so it was important to have these smaller communities for women to showcase their art without the perilous eye of these men dictating what was good and what was not. By building these supportive networks, women could provide mutual encouragement and critique, helping one another professionally develop without being marginalised by a society who still largely favoured women to remain as housewives instead of pursuing independent careers. 

Rena had many good friends, but her scrapbooks suggest that she was particularly close to Peggy Spicer – photographs of Peggy were always appearing in Rena’s scrapbooks. Peggy also worked in watercolours depicting New Zealand landscapes, and her subtle brushwork and refined use of colour made her scenes feel serene and peaceful. In an interview with North Shore Gazette, Rena said that her ideal holiday spot was to drive around the North Island with Peggy and then set up an easel in a paddock or a beach.  

When interviewed by the Gazette, Rena explained how even watercolourists who painted NZ landscapes were changing with the times:

Art has changed since the time when my Grandmother painted. Then it was all perfect landscapes with tiny houses in the distance. Now we put faces, houses and fences in the foreground to create an uglier but more interesting picture.

Rena and Peggy maintained a significant position in Auckland’s art scene, despite adhering to a somewhat more conservative background than some of Auckland’s younger, more radical women artists. The Gazette was pleased to report that Rena would continue to capture more of the North Shore’s local beauty spots. They also noted Rena’s ability to portray “unpretentious works… the clear, bright colour and the lively handling leave a very pleasing impression.” By depicting beautiful landscapes of New Zealand in the 1970s, and in Rena’s case particularly around the Auckland region, these artists were proof that Auckland continued to have an output of accomplished artists who would preserve the tradition of reflecting the national identity genre. 

As participants in multiple art groups, and actively producing work for numerous exhibitions each year, these women performed valuable services to the art scene, many of which are overlooked in Auckland’s art history discourse. Such commitment to consistently produce artworks shows their dedication and passion to art. Despite Rena scarcely being written about in her career, she is an important example of someone who persisted as an artist and encouraged others to do the same, regardless of the general lack of support afforded to women artists at the time. 

The Emergence of Broadsheet 

In the 1970s, a younger generation of women artists emerged taking less traditional paths in their art practices, which critics were not always fond of. In 1972, the inception of Broadsheet in Auckland marked the establishment of a monthly feminist periodical. Over the next 25 years, Broadsheet would serve as a platform for women nationwide to articulate and disseminate prevailing issues experienced by women during that period. 

Auckland women artists received regular attention in Broadsheet – feminist and non-feminist artists alike were given the opportunity to comment their thoughts on the art scene. This is another example of the community building that was occurring among women artists in the 70s. Broadsheet was a space for women to consolidate (relatively) unfiltered providing the chance to band together and express mutual support. The 22nd issue of Broadsheet, published in 1974, was dedicated to women in the arts, and many Auckland artists featured in this edition. 

Una Platts shared her thoughts on women artists in one interview published in Broadsheet. Una was an artist and one of New Zealand’s first art historians, publishing the exceptionally important work Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists: A Guide and Handbook in 1980. In Una’s opinion, Auckland was the centre for anything experimental in the N.Z. art world. She also felt it would be better for the ‘conservative’ and ‘unadventurous’ artists (both men and women) to venture outside the city if they were not ready to push out for new things. Rena had also alluded to this when she told the Gazette that artists were branching out, creating imperfections to add character to their scenes. 

Una weighed in on women wanting to be an artist as a full-time career. She acknowledged that women “generally are unable to live off their earnings as artists. Unless, like many, they drop their living standards sharply to try and accommodate a livelihood solely from their art” Such commentary provides insight into the conditions women artists faced in the 1970s. Those who wanted to pursue careers in the arts were more likely to face poverty because this was a lifestyle devoid of fair pay.

Another section of Broadsheet, titled “20 artists,” introduced a selection of visual artists, writers and musicians, with nine women representing the visual arts. Each segment had a quote or two from the artists, allowing a diverse range of women to express their views on the current art scene. Gretchen Albrecht, for example, stated that her work was not affected by her sex and believed that New Zealand was too young of a country to face equality issues in the arts. Her belief was that it was the educational system oppressing artists, but that both men and women suffered from this and there was not an imbalance of equality. It is important to note that Gretchen now sees these views as naïve and that she has been very aware for a number of years that her painting is affected by her sex. These were her views in a very different time period to the present, and although she did not feel any imbalance of equality as an artist when the ’20 Artists’ article was written, she realised over the years that her beliefs were informed by the fortunate opportunities that she received but came to understand that this was not the case for many other women.

Other artists, such as Bronwynne Cornish, focussed on the issue with overly assertive critics. She was prepared to reject critics who called her ceramics “funky” and “satirical.” She said that these critics were phonies and that her “strange pottery” was just her kind of taste; it was not a joke. Bronwynne’s ceramics were inventive and distinct, but the commentary made towards her work reflects the marginalisation that women in Auckland society were still facing in the 1970’s. Despite Auckland being considered the leading centre in NZ for anything experimental, it appears that some found Bronwynne ‘too’ experimental, and her enrichment of the arts was brushed over. Broadsheet was the first platform for women artists to express such concerns in an accepting space and raise issues that were likely affecting their contemporaries too. 

The Rise of Feminist Artists 

Jacqueline Fahey deserves recognition for being one of the first artists to paint from a feminist perspective. From the 1970s, the intensity of domestic life would be a central focus in Jacqueline’s paintings. Christine in the Pantry was one of many paintings that Jacqueline created to survey the actuality of New Zealand women’s private realities. The mother is surrounded by her family’s material items, yet they are not around to clean up their mess, leaving it solely to her to organise. Such artworks challenged conventional notions of what it means to be a woman. Her entrancing use of colour and perspectival space draws the viewer into the claustrophobic feeling of being a woman.  

Jacqueline was progressive for her time, and she would later be recognised as an artist who put women’s work front and centre, fighting “like hell to be a professional painter in the Era of Wife and Mother.” When Woman’s Weekly wrote about Jacqueline in 1972, they referred to her as ‘Mrs McDonald’ repeatedly despite knowing that Jacqueline intended to paint under her maiden name. The beginning of the article reads: “frank and vivacious wife of the medical superintendent at Auckland’s kingseat psychiatric hospital, Jacqueline McDonald…” suggesting that her title as wife to a powerful man was more significant than her own career as an artist. Jacqueline was serious about painting under her maiden name, and she was also serious about being part of the women’s liberation movement. 

Jacqueline produced multiple works in the 70s, which she said were “quite political, quite conscious.” Last Summer (1971) is an example of a work that highlights the isolated feelings that mothers experience when they feel “anchored to the spot” because they have no space to have independence with young children constantly needing them. Jaqueline said “I genuinely feel that the women’s movement is so damned important,” emphasising her commitment to bringing women’s true experiences in a patriarchal society to the forefront.

Jacqueline also appeared in Spiral’s first-ever issue in 1976 – New Zealand’s earliest magazine dedicated to women’s art. She commented on the challenges that women artists faced and suggested that women stop bending over backwards for the children, and to be wary of her conventional husband. Jacqueline also warned that “the intellectual husband” would make sure his wife was the hand-maiden to his talent, likely at the expense of her own talents and career. This is why Jacqueline believed “a woman artist is on her own,” because, at this point, women often were. The opportunity for women to pursue independent careers as artists or other creative professions lacked support and it is for this reason that artists such as Jacqueline publicly backed the women’s liberation movement and spoke out about these prevailing societal issues.  

Conclusion 

A variety of women artists who played significant roles in the 1970s Auckland art scene have been featured in this article. With their landscape paintings, women like Rena Manson and Peggy Spicer continued to enhance the beauty of New Zealand’s scenery, engaging with the nation’s sense of identity. Rena achieved this on a local level too, consistently capturing the beauty of Auckland’s natural surroundings, showing that Auckland was continuing to be a centre with an output of excellent artists. Being part of a women-dominated art group such as the ‘Tuesday Group’ also exemplified the relationships that women were fostering to support one another in their artistic endeavours. 

At the same time, a younger generation of artists was emerging, and these women utilised new platforms to share thoughts, experiences, or opinions in feminist magazines such as Broadsheet and Spiral. Gretchen Albrecht and Bronwynne Cornish spoke about issues that were important to them and how such problems affected their work, whether it was a lack of resources in the educational system or misinformed criticism that disregarded particular artistic expressions. Jacqueline Fahey was also able to us Broadsheet and Spiral to express her fears for women artists. She used these platforms to articulate her stance on the emerging women’s movement without mainstream publications such as Women’s Weekly twisting her words or morphing her into someone whom she did not truly identify with. 

The final article will see how the 1980s was a decade that women artists used to develop the work done in the 1970s. Further discussions were had on the discourse between women artists and feminist artists; and some women would put forth a lot of effort to bring women together in the artistic community. Utilising the momentum from the 1970s, the 1980s would see an increase in attempts to uplift women artists, encouraging them to pursue careers as artists and to inspire more women to join the feminist movement. 

 

Bibliography 

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Cornish, Bronwynne. “Joining the Dance.” New Zealand Potter 18, no.2 (1976). https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/about/library/new-zealand-potter/new-zealand-potter-volume-18-number-2-month-yyyy.

Cornwell, Sue. “Paints People As – People.” Woman’s Weekly, July 31, 1972. INZART.

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Kirker, Anne. New Zealand Women Artists. Auckland: Reed Methuen, 1986. 

Knight, Kim. “Artist Jacqueline Fahey on love, feminism and the view from the kitchen table.” New Zealand Herald, November 16, 2019. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/artist-jacqueline-fahey-on-love-feminism-and-the-view-from-the-kitchen-table/5JJTLHSIWRRERVSETNY2VM72CY/.

Mitchell, Alison. “Some thoughts on woman’s art.” Spiral, no.1 (1976): 9-13. https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/media/uploads/2023_05/Spiral_1.pdf.

National Library of New Zealand. “Brodie, Rena Frances, 1914 – 2013.” Accessed February 9, 2024. https://natlib.govt.nz/records/37153466.

“Rena Manson – artist.” North Shore Gazette, October 15, 1974. Rena Manson Archive RC 2016/4/1/5. E H McCormick Research Library, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

“Review of Jacqueline Fahey’s Exhibition at Auckland City Art Gallery, October 1983, and Some Later Paintings.” Broadsheet, no.117 (1984): 31-33. https://broadsheet.auckland.ac.nz/document/1984_%28Nos._116-125%29/No._117_%28March_1984%29/p-1?action=null.

“Shore artist captures NZ flavour.” North Shore Gazette, October 8, 1974. Rena Manson Archive RC 2016/4/1/5. E H McCormick Research Library, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. 

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