EVELYN PAGE

Alongside Sydney Thompson, Evelyn Page is New Zealand’s best known impressionist painter. Page was a precocious talent, attending Canterbury College School of Art in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 1914. Her work in the 1920s shared much in common with artists such as Ngaio Marsh and Margaret Henderson, revealing a similar interest in nationalism. Influenced by Sydney Lough Thompson, her work became more painterly.

In 1938 she moved to Governors Bay near Christchurch and her paintings of the region and views of inner Christchurch from her studio in Cathedral Square during this period remain among her most admired works today.

In 1950 she moved to Wellington and in the 1960s exhibited an impressive series of paintings of female nudes, reclining in her garden at Waikanae. In 1986 a survey exhibition highlighted a vital, colourful and painterly body of work over seven decades.

Page has work in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa and the Christchurch Art Gallery.