Rata Lovell Smith is one of the best known and best loved of Canterbury's early twentieth-century painters. Although well known for her landscapes and an accomplished painter of still lifes, less is known about her late, more experimental works. This presentation therefore aims to deliver a more encompassing account of her artistic achievements.

Dorothee Pauli lectures on the history and theory of art and design at the School of Art and Design at CPIT. A graduate with a PhD in art history from the University of Canterbury, her own research focus is in twentieth-century Australasian art and design, with a special interest in the life and work of New Zealand artists Mina Arndt and James Cook. Recently Pauli published an article on the work of Rata and Colin Lovell Smith in the Journal of New Zealand Art History.