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Rita Angus Wainui 1943. Watercolour. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 2019
Wainui by Rita Angus
Note
In March 1943 Rita Angus spent several weeks staying at a friend’s family bach in the small settlement of Wainui in Akaroa Harbour, a refuge in the midst of World War II. It was here that she produced some of her most accomplished watercolours, small gems where the landscape is so delicately defined it’s as if she painted them whilst looking through a telescope. There are five known watercolours of Wainui and the surrounding Akaroa Harbour from this period and the Gallery is fortunate to hold four of them.
Most recently the Gallery was offered this gem of a painting by a Canterbury family with a strong farming connection to the region. The watercolour was originally purchased by a member of the family directly from the artist during her Wainui retreat and has remained a family treasure over the following decades. The quiet sanctuary Wainui offered the artist at this time belied the turmoil she would face on her return to Christchurch. As a committed conscientious objector she refused direction by the Industrial Manpower Committee to work in a rubber factory, a job that contributed directly to the war effort. In 1944 she was prosecuted; her appeal was dismissed and yet, sticking to her pacifist beliefs, she continued to ignore the directions to work in the factory.
Wainui has changed little since 1943 – there are a few more baches in the settlement, but today it continues to offer visitors an opportunity to relax, unwind and enjoy the peaceful surrounding landscape.
Related reading: Rita Angus, Covid-19
Collection
Rita Angus Wainui
In the summer of 1943, during the height of World War II, Ōtautahi Christchurch artist Rita Angus was called up by the Industrial Manpower Board to report for work at a local factory as part of the country’s war effort. Angus was a pacifist, so she chose instead to move to Wainui, a small coastal settlement in Akaroa Harbour, where she spent several weeks. Wainui was a refuge, a place of retreat and recuperation for Angus, and she embarked on an extraordinary series of small watercolours of the surrounding landscape. The intense attention to detail and her precision and clarity in applying the watercolour paints is exceptional. Angus wrote: “Wainui is charming, the bach is built on a rise overlooking the harbour and opposite Akaroa, and the weather has been rather wonderful. […] I find the bach very comfortable, most of my subjects are near here. I’m aware of much I’ve not noticed before, and how very short is one’s life. Again a hermit, I can reflect on the last few weeks in Christchurch, they were wonderful weeks to me. […] I thought I could be a more simple hermit than I am.”
He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil (from August 2024)
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Director’s Update
With a welcome shift back to Level 2 in our collective fight against COVID-19, we are delighted to reopen our doors to visitors.
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Bringing up the rear
We finish our handwashing poems with R A K Mason's Song of Allegiance, read, as was the Keats sonnet that started this series, by me.
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House Rules by Joanna Margaret Paul
We are delighted to present Joanna Margaret Paul's House Rules, read by its creator's daughter Magdalena Harris. Dishwasher tension will, we are sure, be familiar to all.
The poet also created the painting you see, which is called Barrys Bay: Interior with Bed and Doll.
And although it's a day after Mother's Day, let's today salute all mothers and their efforts, especially over the last few weeks.
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Running Water by Robyn Hyde
We don't want the poems to stop but dare we hope we are inching closer to re-opening? In the interests of playing it safe, let's keep washing our hands though, today with Visitor Host Dora Mullins and some exquisitely sad lines from Robin Hyde.
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Cat in the Dark by Margaret Mahy
A beautiful poem today by Margaret Mahy, beautifully read by 10 year old Elsie Billington.
A minute of pure handwashing pleasure.
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A Calm Day by Basil Dowling
Today our Graphic Designer Peter Bray reads about the sound of the ocean when the wind dies down. Only Basil Dowling puts it lot better than that in A Calm Day.
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I saw her face by Robin Judkins
We've had lots of poetry responding to nature but poetry's other great theme has been absent. We put that right today with a love poem by Robin Judkins. A simple expression of love you might say, but listen right to the end and then say with confidence what happens next.
That will take a minute so your hands will be sparkling. Today's reader is Visitor Host Tim Hobbs.
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And the animals shall inherit the earth
It’s been interesting observing how nature has quietly but very quickly reclaimed the earth since we have all gone into Covid-19 lockdown. My social media timelines have been peppered with images of animals wandering where humans can’t, boars roaming in Barcelona, peacocks in Dubai, deer in Japan and schools of tiny fish in the now clear waters of Venice to name a few. Related of course are the clearing skies around the world.
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To a child dancing in the wind by W B Yeats
Today our Business Administrator Jackie Heavey reads a poem by a compatriot of hers, William Butler Yeats, in which the innocence of childhood is envied.
Yes you can now go to the beach, but keep your distance and, of course, keep washing those hands.
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Spheres: An Online Video Project
Over the past few weeks, I have been working with fellow curator Nathan Pohio on an online video project that we’ve called Spheres. I’ve only recently joined the Gallery, so it’s been helpful to have something to focus on from home as well as a reason to be in touch with some interesting artists.