In 1938, Leo Bensemann and Lawrence Baigent moved into 97 Cambridge Terrace here in Ōtautahi Christchurch, where their studio flat opened on to one rented by painter Rita Angus. The flats soon became a place where the city’s artists, writers, composers and musicians socialised, including Louise Henderson, Olivia Spencer Bower, Allen and Betty Curnow, Frederick and Evelyn Page, Denis Glover, Douglas Lilburn – and, of course, Shurrock. This head-and shoulders portrait follows a format Bensemann employed several times, though usually on a larger scale. Baigent is seen in profile, against a coastal landscape. Whether the subtitle Russian Saint is playful or pointed remains unknown.

(Dear Shurrie: Francis Shurrock and his contemporaries, 8 March – 13 July 2025)