Olivia Spencer Bower

England / Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1905, d.1982

The wine cellar

  • Linocut
  • Purchased with assistance from the Friends of Robert McDougall Art Gallery, 1999
  • 203 x 232mm
  • 99/24
  • View on google maps

Ōtautahi Christchurch artist Olivia Spencer Bower travelled to Britain in 1929, where she studied at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London. It is very likely that Olivia would have encountered the work of Claude Flight and other British linocut artists at this time. By 1932, after her return to Christchurch, she began producing linocuts of European subjects encountered on her travels. Olivia made and exhibited numerous linocuts during 1932 and 1933, but unfortunately many are yet to be located.

Ink on Paper: Aotearoa New Zealand Printmakers of the Modern Era, 11 February – 28 May 2023

Exhibition History