Dorothy Kate Richmond (12 September 1861 – 16 April 1935), known as Dolla Richmond, was a New Zealand

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

noted for her

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

paintings of natural plants and animals and panoramic landscapes.

Early life and education

The daughter of

James Crowe Richmond James Crowe Richmond (22 September 1822 – 19 January 1898) was a New Zealand politician, engineer, and an early painter in watercolours of the New Zealand landscape. Early life Richmond was born in London, England, the son of Christopher Ric ...

and Mary Smith, Dorothy Richmond was born on 12 September 1861 at Parnell, Auckland. She was the third of five children and her young childhood was unsettled. The family moved to Nelson in 1862 where her father had become the editor of '' The Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle'' but moved to the Taranaki district after the sudden death of Dorothy's mother in 1865. Her father was often away from home and she and her siblings were farmed out to relatives before the family moved back to Nelson in around 1869. Richmond attended Miss Bell's Young Ladies' College in Nelson and her interest in art was encouraged by her father who passed on his love of drawing and painting to her. She was taken with her two elder siblings to Europe by her father in 1873 and continued her drawing lessons. She attended Bedford College for Women in London, and also attended the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

where she worked under

Alphonse Legros Alphonse Legros (; 8 May 1837 – 8 December 1911) was a French, later British, painter, etcher, sculptor, and medallist. He moved to London in 1863 and later was naturalized as British. He was important as a teacher in the British etching ...

. By June 1880 her work gained her a Slade Scholarship.

Career

In the early 1880s she returned to New Zealand to keep house for her father before being appointed the art mistress at the newly opened Nelson College for Girls in 1883. Richmond exhibited with the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts from 1885 and then travelled to Europe and returning and forth and continuing to study and paint seriously. By 1890 she had become an artist member of the

New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts (also referred to as the Wellington Art Society) was founded in Wellington in July 1882 as The Fine Arts Association of New Zealand. Founding artists included painters William Beetham (first president of the As ...

and by 1896 was studying with James Nairn. She became financially independent after the death of her father in 1898 and she again travelled to Europe to paint. She met

Frances Hodgkins Frances Mary Hodgkins (28 April 1869 – 13 May 1947) was a New Zealand painter chiefly of landscape, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. Born in Dunedin, she was educated Dunedin School of Art, then became an art teacher, ...

in 1901 and travelled with her in France and Italy before returning to New Zealand together in December 1903. Hodgkins described Richmond as "the dearest woman with the most beautiful face and expression. I am a lucky beggar to have her as a travelling companion." Norman Garstin painted Richmond's portrait in Europe in 1903, and the oil painting is in the Te Papa collection, and online. Richmond and Hodgkins remained close partners and rented a studio together in Bowen Street, Wellington where they also took on private pupils. Richmond keep the studio on after Hodgkins returned to Europe in 1906 and continued to develop her reputation as an art teacher. From around 1909 to 1924 she held classes at Fitzherbert Terrace School also known as the Samuel Marsden Collegiate School. Richmond was a Council Member of the

from 1904 and was honoured with a life membership in 1928. File:D. K. Richmond - Mount Egmont - Google Art Project.jpg, Mount Egmont File:Dorothy Kate Richmond - Woman with children.jpg, Woman with children File:D. K. Richmond - Purple and bronze - Google Art Project.jpg, Purple and bronze File:Lady of the Lillies (Te Papa, 2015-0020-3).jpg, Lady of the Lillies File:Dorothy RICHMOND (New Zealander, b.1861, d.1935) - The White Cow - Suter Art Gallery.jpg, The White Cow File:Dorothy Richmond - A Country road - 1906-7-2 - Auckland Art Gallery.jpg, A Country road

Death and legacy

Richmond never married and died in Wellington on 16 April 1935.

List of works

Works by D. K. Richmond in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond, Dorothy 1861 births 1935 deaths Artists from Nelson, New Zealand Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Alumni of Bedford College, London Nelson College for Girls faculty 19th-century New Zealand painters 20th-century New Zealand painters Atkinson–Hursthouse–Richmond family 20th-century New Zealand women artists Colony of New Zealand people 19th-century New Zealand women painters