Agnes Rosetta Wood (née Eady, 26 May 1921 – 12 December 2013) was a New Zealand artist and writer. She is known for her research and writing on the life of fellow New Zealand artist

Colin McCahon Colin John McCahon (; 1August 191927May 1987) was a prominent New Zealand artist whose work over 45 years consisted of various styles, including landscape, figuration, abstraction, and the overlay of painted text. Along with Toss Woollaston and ...

Early life and family

Born Agnes Rosetta Eady on 26 May 1921, Wood was the daughter of

Lewis Alfred Eady Lewis Alfred Eady (12 May 1891 – 21 April 1965) was a New Zealand music retailer, company director and benefactor. Early life Eady was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 12 May 1891. After leaving school in 1906, he worked for his father ...

, a music retailer, and Agnes Amelia Eady (née Adams). On 2 December 1944, she married Edward Phillip Wood at the Congregational Church in Beresford Street,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Career

Wood initially trained and worked as a

milliner Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...

but later studied at the

Elam School of Fine Arts The Elam School of Fine Arts, founded by John Edward Elam, is part of the Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries at the University of Auckland. Students study degrees in fine art with an emphasis on a multidisciplinary approach. The schoo ...

in Auckland, graduating with a master's degree in 1973, aged 52. As a student there she was influenced by her tutors Robert Ellis and Colin McCahon, and her early work explored the structures and patterns of cityscapes. Her figurative paintings, which often depict geometrical portraits on abstract backgrounds, frequently feature figures wearing hats, headpieces or simplified floral headbands — a probable result of her previous training in millinery. In 1997, Wood published ''Colin McCahon: The Man and the Teacher,'' which was based on correspondence and interviews with McCahon. In 2009, an 88th birthday exhibition of Wood's work was held in Auckland. Paintings by Wood are held in the collections of

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

and the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

Death

Wood died in Auckland on 12 December 2013, and her body was cremated at Purewa Crematorium.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Agnes 1921 births 2013 deaths Artists from Auckland Writers from Auckland 20th-century New Zealand artists Elam Art School alumni New Zealand biographers New Zealand women biographers 20th-century biographers