Rita Angus - Boats

Rita Angus - Boats, Island Bay (1963)

New Zealand 24c Stamp issued 1983

Private Collection

This is the final of four stamps that were issued in 1983 by New Zealand Post to commemorate the work of Rita Angus.  

From the Te Papa Gallery Website: 

One of Rita Angus’s best-loved paintings, Boats, Island Bay, celebrates the landscape and community of Wellington’s south coast. Fishing boats twist and bob on the tide, with the island of Tapu te Ranga on the horizon.

Angus’s friend Betty Curnow recalled visiting Island Bay with her:

‘Our days at Island Bay were enjoyable, with lots of things to laugh about. Rita watched absorbed, and remembered so much that was happening about her … All of her paintings were planned and worked out from absorbed and remembered things as well as from sketches – all with reason and purpose.’