Rural

Dorothy Kate Richmond (1861–1935) is often mentioned in the history of New Zealand art, but one of the most interesting moments in that narrative is as yet by and large unexplored: it was when she returned to this country at the end of 1903 in the company of the much more widely studied Frances Hodgkins. At this point Richmond, at 42, was identified by her compatriots as (a) the daughter of the late watercolourist James Crowe Richmond and thus (b) a member of the numerous Richmond/ Atkinson English family that had made a considerable contribution to the development of their adopted land in Taranaki, Nelson and Wellington; and (c) an exhibitor at the regional art exhibitions, even during her absence overseas. After some weeks reacquainting themselves with their families, in February 1904 Richmond and Hodgkins declared their return with an exhibition at McGregor Wright’s gallery in Wellington. By an extraordinary coincidence, one of the most important things that could have occurred in the Wellington art world happened two days before the two women’s show opened: James Nairn unexpectedly died. The coincidence did not go unremarked. In his tribute to their late lamented colleague, the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts President Walter Fell observed that ‘other artists would come to delight them with their work (he was glad to see two present—Misses Richmond and Hodgkins—whom they all welcomed back to New Zealand) but the talented hand of Jimmy Nairn would paint no more’; and similar sentiments appeared in other comment on Nairn’s passing. Fell was Richmond’s cousin, a factor at once opening up the possibility of bias but also of Richmond’s likely acquiescence in this public expression of esteem and potential. What she did next thus becomes of great interest, and close examination thereof indicates that Richmond may indeed have entertained the idea of somehow taking