BAIRD FRIBERG, ELIZABETH (1882-1964)

"Punakaiki Beach, South Island, New Zealand" (c.1920)
Watercolour
30 x 40cm
Signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Baird-Friberg was a pioneering, award-winning New Zealand Modernist. She first displayed her art at the Canterbury Society of Arts Annual Exhibition in 1904 where she was awarded first prize for her entry called "Brush". She was 22 years of age at the time and a student of the Canterbury School of Art. Elizabeth became a working member of the Canterbury Society of Arts and her work was accepted into their annual exhibition consistently from 1904 - late 1950s. Her work followed Frances Hodgkins and was a precursor to the likes of Rita Angus, New Zealand's greatest female artists.