May Oswald Gilbert (16 May 1901 – 21 May 1977) was a New Zealand printmaker and artist, working in watercolours, oils and acrylics. Her work is held in the

Christchurch Art Gallery The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, commonly known as the Christchurch Art Gallery, is the public art gallery of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It has its own substantial art collection and also presents a programme of New ...

Biography

Gilbert was born in 1901 in Parnell, Auckland, the eldest of three sisters; her brother, her sisters, and her all shared the middle name Oswald. The family

drapery Drapery is a general word referring to cloths or textiles (Old French , from Late Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Late Latin ). It ma ...

and

haberdashery __NOTOC__ In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a men's clothing store ...

shop, known as "Paris House", was on Parnell Road opposite St John's Catholic Church. Gilbert attended

Epsom Girls' Grammar School Epsom Girls Grammar School (often simplified to Epsom Girls, or EGGS) is a state secondary school for girls ranging from years 9 to 13 in Auckland, New Zealand. It has a roll of 2,200 as of 2025, making it one of the largest schools in New Zeala ...

, winning a Senior National Scholarship in 1919, and entered

Elam School of Fine Arts The Elam School of Fine Arts, founded by John Edward Elam, is part of the University of Auckland Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries, Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries at the University of Auckland. It offered the first Bachelor of ...

in 1920, returning in the mid-1930s and attending classes in life drawing and landscapes every year until the early 1940s. She also studied at the private art school Le Foyer. Gilbert was a member of the Auckland Society of Arts for over 45 years, from 1930 to 1976. She exhibited a set of linocuts there in 1932, and also exhibited with the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts (1931–42), the Nelson Suter Art Society, and the

Canterbury Society of Arts Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA, formerly the Canterbury Society of Arts) is a curated art gallery in the centre of Christchurch, New Zealand. The gallery is governed by the Canterbury Society of Arts Charitable Trust. History The Canterbu ...

. She was a member of the Rutland Group in Auckland, appearing regularly in catalogues and art reviews between 1938 and 1952. She worked in oil and watercolour, often painting around Auckland with her friend Peggy Spicer; she was also friends with the artists Bessie Christie, Hilda Wiseman, and Dorothy Morton. Gilbert was an art teacher in the 1930s and 1940s, initially at St. Cuthbert's College from 1937 to 1940. She also taught arts and crafts and drawing at the Diocesan School for Girls, which her sisters had attended from 1920 to 1927. Gilbert never married and spent much of her time looking after other family members, regularly taking the harbour ferry to Devonport for example and walking to

Bayswater Bayswater is an area in the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...

to baby-sit and return the next day. Art was practised when time permitted, and generally not discussed with her family, though all were aware of her abilities. She travelled overseas twice, producing paintings and sketches each time: first to

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

, and then in the 1950s to the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

. She died in on 21 May 1977, five days after her 76th birthday, leaving paintings to the Auckland Society of Arts to help with their fundraising. She is buried in Purewa Cemetery, Auckland.

References

1901 births 1977 deaths 20th-century New Zealand artists 20th-century New Zealand women artists People associated with the Rutland Group People educated at Epsom Girls' Grammar School {{NewZealand-artist-stub