Juliet Peter

Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1915, d.2010

Untitled [Clearing bush and hoeing]

  • c. 1947-1952
  • pen, brush, ink
  • Purchased 2015
  • 235 x 212mm
  • 2015/031

Juliet Peter was made principal illustrator for the School Publications Branch of the Education Department in Wellington in 1947. Her fluid, stylised black and white drawings became well-known to a generation of young New Zealanders. Peter left the department in 1951 to study at the Central School of Art and Design in London. In the following year she married fellow artist Roy Cowan, whom she had met at School Publications. In London again in 1953, Peter also studied lithography and pottery part-time at the Hammersmith College of Building and Arts and Crafts. In New Zealand, Peter remained one of the School Journal’s most prolific designer/illustrators. Her work strongly influenced the publication’s visual character until 1960 through hundreds of line drawings and dozens of two-colour cover designs. Her later artistic output was principally in ceramics.

(Beneath the ranges, 18 February – 23 October 2017)