Ellen von Meyern (1882-1912) was a New Zealand artist who is remembered for her portraits of Maori people.

Ellen von Meyern
Ellen von Meyern in her studio circa 1910.
Born26 December 1881
Died1912

Biography

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Von Meyern was the daughter of Arthur von Meyern. Around 1895, she moved from Dunedin to Auckland, where she studied portraiture at the Elam School of Art. Her work includes portraits of her sister Blanche, with whom she shared a studio, and of music and theatre celebrities. Examples of her paintings can be seen in the National Museum of New Zealand.[1][2] Von Meyern's Maori paintings are, like many by Gottfried Lindauer and Frances Hodgkins, associated with symbolist portraits of demure females with or without a child.[3]

Her portrait of Prime Minister Richard Seddon is in the collection of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.[4]

She died in October 1912.[5]

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References

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  1. ^ "VON MEYERN, Ellen d.1912?". Victoria University of Wellington: Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists: A Guide & Handbook. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  2. ^ Bell, Leonard (1980). The Maori in European Art: A Survey of the Representation of the Maori by European Artists from the Time of Captain Cook to the Present Day. REED. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-589-01281-6.
  3. ^ Leonard Bell (1 October 2013). Colonial Constructs: European Images of the Maori, 1840-1914. Auckland University Press. pp. 367–. ISBN 978-1-86940-640-0.
  4. ^ "Portrait of Richard John Seddon". Auckland Art Gallery. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  5. ^ "Miss Ellen Von Meyern | Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa". collections.tepapa.govt.nz. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
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