Rata Lovell-Smith was a central figure in the development of the distinctive aspect of Aotearoa New Zealand’s twentieth-century art history that is often referred to as Canterbury regionalism. She, along with artists such as Rita Angus, Olivia Spencer Bower and Bill Sutton, focused on features common in the Waitaha Canterbury High Country: the bright, hard light, the nor’west winds and the resulting high cloud formations, swathes of tussock grasses and the breathtaking mountainous backdrop beyond the plains. These artists often emphasised human-made structures, such as this bridge on the road up to Aoraki Mount Cook.

He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil (from August 2024)

With the arrival of the motorcar, Otama-a-kura / Goose Bay (south of Kaikōura) became a popular camping spot for summer visitors. Christchurch-born couple Colin and Rata Lovell-Smith stayed there regularly throughout the 1930s, joining the throng heading north each season to camp, fish and relax – and, for these two, to paint. The results of Colin’s labours include this pared back evening coastal scene at Haumuri Point; and a painterly record of civil engineering works disturbing the usually tranquil Otumatu (near Goose Bay) during the completion of the Main Trunk Line in 1939.