Rata Lovell-Smith
Biography
Rata Lovell-Smith was born on 24 December 1894 in Christchurch, the eldest daughter of Alice Emily Cox and her husband, Alfred Louis Bird, an engineer. She was educated at Christchurch Girls' High School and attended Christchurch Training College, taking drawing classes at Canterbury College School of Art in 1911 and 1912. She worked as a primary school teacher, and pursued her artistic ambitions by returning part time to the School of Art from 1917 to 1923 as a student of Booth and Wallwork. Her contemporaries included Ngaio Marsh, Evelyn Polson (later Page) and Rhona Haszard. Rata belonged to a generation of women who asserted their independence by taking advantage of increased opportunities to teach and work as artists. When she married Colin Lovell-Smith in Christchurch on 8 February 1922 she was 27 years old with a firm sense of her identity, and after the birth of their two sons she retained her commitment to painting. The Lovell-Smiths established a personal and professional relationship in which they painted and exhibited together, and shared responsibility for supporting the family.
- https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4l13/lovell-smith-colin-stuart
- https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4l13/lovell-smith-colin-stuart
b.1894, d.1969
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