B.
And let it begin with me
Behind the scenes
September 21 is the International Day of Peace, first celebrated by the United Nations thirty years ago today.
Completed after the end of the Second World War, A Goddess of Mercy expresses Rita Angus's vision of a peaceful future and her belief in the role women could play in averting war. Her contemporary goddess watches over a beautiful, hopeful world, while the melting snow, ploughed fields and yellow crocus herald the arrival of spring and the possibility of new beginnings.
Rita Angus A Goddess of Mercy 1945–7. Oil on canvas. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. Reproduced courtesy of the Rita Angus estate
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Collection
Rita Angus A Goddess of Mercy
Ōtautahi-trained painter Rita Angus is known for her distinctive graphic style, clear light and bold colours. A Goddess of Mercy is the first of three goddess works she painted. Informed by her feminist worldview, Rita saw the goddess portraits as the most important examples of her pacifist ideas. This work also has personal significance. Rita’s sister Edna died suddenly in 1940, and the pattern on the subject’s skirt comes from one of Edna’s favourite outfits. Surrounding the figure we see symbolic clues to a relationship with nature: a deer at the figure’s side, willow branches forming a halo around her head and the crocus flower clasped in her hand, a hopeful sign for the coming of spring.
(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- )