Elizabeth Kelly (née Abbott) made this sculptural portrait bust while at the Canterbury College School of Art, where she studied from 1891–1901. 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, in the 1930s showing her work in exhibitions in London, Edinburgh and Paris.

Laura was modelled on the artist’s younger sister, Laura Maude Cox (née Abbott, 1884–1957). One of the earliest sculptures in the collection by a New Zealand born artist, it is a recent gift to the city from Margaret Abbott, a great-niece of the two sisters.

(Treasury: A Generous Legacy, 18 December 2015 – 27 November 2016)

Eileen Cowan was the mother of artist Roy Cowan, and Juliet Peter’s mother-in-law. Eileen Cowan’s mother was Mary Rachel Robson, also known as Mere Kapa Ngamai II, and her father was the poet and Māori scholar Henry Hare Hongi Mathew Stowell. This deftly worked portrait reflects the deep affection that existed between the artist and her subject, who sits on a garden bench amidst a profusion of summer flowers, with knitting needles and wool on her lap and a butterfly momentarily resting on her cardigan.

(Turn, Turn, Turn: A Year in Art, 27 July 2019 – 8 March 2020)