Alice Gwendoline Rhona Haszard (1901–1931) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

artist.

Biography

Rhona Haszard - Finistère - Google Art Project

Haszard was born in

Thames, New Zealand Thames () ( mi, Pārāwai) is a town at the southwestern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. It is located on the Firth of Thames close to the mouth of the Waihou River. The town is the seat of the Thames-Coromandel (di ...

, one of the five children of Alice (née Wily), and Henry Douglas Morpeth Haszard, a surveyor, who worked for the Lands and Survey Department, later becoming a Commissioner of Crown Lands in 1910. As a result of her father's job the family moved often and lived in

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 ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

Hokitika Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of . ...

and

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

. At the age of 18, Haszard enrolled at the Canterbury College School of Art, now the

Ilam School of Fine Arts The Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury was founded in 1882 as the Canterbury College School of Art. The school became a full department of the university in the 1950s, and was the first department to move to the suburban Ila ...

, joining a set of women artists that included

Ngaio Marsh Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh (; 23 April 1895 – 18 February 1982) was a New Zealand mystery writer and theatre director. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966. As a crime writer during the "Golden Age of Det ...

Evelyn Page Evelyn Margaret Page (née Polson, 23 April 1899 – 28 May 1988) was a New Zealand artist. Her career covered seven decades, and her main areas of interest were landscapes, portraits, still lifes and nudes. Early life Page was born in C ...

(née Polson), Rata Lovell-Smith (née Bird) and Olivia Spencer Bower. She was taught amongst others by Archibald Nicoll, the newly appointed head of the school. Haszard was very bohemian. She dressed eccentrically, spoke positively of de facto relationships and advocated

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism may ...

and unprocessed food. In 1922, she married Ronald McKenzie, a teacher and fellow student. However, in 1925, she abandoned this marriage to run off with an ex-British Army officer Leslie Greener. After being confronted with society disapproval, the couple escaped to France in 1926. They settled in Paris and studied briefly at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

. Haszard continued to paint landscapes and exhibited in Paris at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

and, during 1927, in London with the

Society of Women Artists The Society of Women Artists (SWA) is a British art body dedicated to celebrating and promoting fine art created by women. It was founded as the Society of Female Artists (SFA) in about 1855, offering women artists the opportunity to exhibit and ...

and in Cairo as well as sending work back to be exhibited in New Zealand. The couple completed numerous painting trips to the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

, Cyprus and Greece. In 1927, Greener was employed by

Victoria College, Alexandria Victoria College, Alexandria, ( ar, كلية فيكتوريا) was founded in 1902 under the impetus of the recently ennobled Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer of the Barings Bank, that was heavily invested in Egyptian stability. For years the Br ...

, Egypt to teach art. In 1928 Haszard had a serious accident that left her with a back injury and she returned to London to seek medical treatment in 1929 and 1930. However she remained committed to painting and to the bohemian art and theatre circles. She returned to

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

in 1930. She was killed when she fell off a four-storey tower at Victoria College, Alexandria in 1931 the night after her last exhibition opened. She was 30.

List of works

Works from the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

References

External links

Haszard, Alice Gwendoline Rhona
- Biography at the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand by Anne Kirker {{DEFAULTSORT:Haszard, Rhona 1901 births 1931 deaths 20th-century New Zealand painters 20th-century New Zealand women artists Ilam School of Fine Arts alumni People from Thames, New Zealand People educated at Southland Girls' High School New Zealand women painters Deaths from falls