Alison Stirling Duff (married name Salter, 7 July 1914 – 19 March 2000) was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

sculptor, potter and teacher.

Family

Born in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

in 1914, she was the daughter of Jessie Barclay and Oliver Duff, writer and foundation editor of the

New Zealand Listener The ''New Zealand Listener'' is a weekly New Zealand magazine that covers the political, cultural and literary life of New Zealand by featuring a variety of topics, including current events, politics, social issues, health, technology, arts, f ...

. Alison was also the aunt of New Zealand novelist

Alan Duff Alan Duff (born 26 October 1950) is a New Zealand novelist and newspaper columnist. He is best known as the author of the novel '' Once Were Warriors'' (1990), which was made into a film of the same name in 1994. Biography Alan Duff was bo ...

Education

Duff studied at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

School of Art under

Francis Shurrock Francis Aubrey Shurrock A.R.C.A. (1887–1977) was a British born sculptor who became an influential teacher in New Zealand. He was born in Warrington, Lancashire, England on 5 August 1887. He studied under Édouard Lantéri at the Royal Colle ...

. She went on to study sculpture at East Sydney Technical College, graduating in 1938. Duff returned briefly to New Zealand after graduating, and three of her sculptures were included in the 1939-40

New Zealand Centennial Exhibition The New Zealand Centennial Exhibition took place over six months from Wednesday 8 November 1939 until 4 May 1940. It celebrated one hundred years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 and the subsequent mass European settlement of ...

Teaching career

Duff taught in Hobart for seven years as the head of the Sculpture Department at Hobart Technical College before moving to Sydney, where she taught at Sydney Technical College for a further five. Returning to New Zealand, she became a teacher at

Auckland Girls' Grammar School Auckland Girls' Grammar School (AGGS) is a New Zealand secondary school for girls located in Newton, New Zealand, Newton, Auckland. Established in 1878 as Auckland Girls' High School, it is one of the oldest secondary institutions in the countr ...

Career

Duff was considered as one of the artists who ushered in the 'official birth' of sculpture in

Aotearoa ''Aotearoa'' () is the Māori name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference only to the North Island, with the whole country being referred to as ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' – where ''Te Ika-a-Māui'' means N ...

New Zealand. She often created works in pairs, inspired by the way nature forms complementary relationships. By the mid 1950s Duff was working full-time on her sculpture. Among her characteristic works from this time are portrait busts such as ''Sir

Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineering, mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa people, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the Timeline of M ...

'' (1959) in th
Auckland Art Gallery collection
Art historian Anne Kirker writes 'This work is made from cement, a medium that enhances the rugged and tough demeanour of the eminent New Zealander.' Duff's work was regularly featured in the

Auckland City Art Gallery 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 ...

's survey exhibitions of current artistic practice in the 1960s. She was included in ''Contemporary New Zealand Painting and Sculpture'' (1960), ''Contemporary New Zealand Painting and Sculpture'' (1962), ''Recent New Zealand Sculpture'' (1966) and ''Recent New Zealand Sculpture'' (1968) at the Gallery. A major exhibition of her work from 1944 onwards was held at the

New Vision Gallery New Vision Gallery was a contemporary craft and art gallery operating in Auckland, New Zealand in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. History The Gallery was established in 1957 by Dutch artists Kees (Cornelis) Hos (born 1916, The Hague, Netherlands - di ...

in 1970.

Collections

Her work is held in the collections of

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...

and

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki 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 ...

Death

She died in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

in 2000.

References

1914 births 2000 deaths People from Invercargill Ilam School of Fine Arts alumni New Zealand artists {{NewZealand-artist-stub