Listing Details
Mina Arndt
1885 – 1926
Arndt’s father died shortly before her birth in Arrowtown. Her mother moved with her four children to Wellington to be closer to family and bring up her children in the Jewish community there. Mina studied painting at the Wellington polytechnic before heading to London where it is thought she attended the prestigious Slade Art School. Here she developed an interest in print making and an opportunity arose for her to study under Hermann Struck in Berlin.
In her work she absorbed the current European trends, her brush strokes becoming looser, her use of colour more intense. She was described as an expressionist. Her two sisters were living with her in Germany when war broke out in 1914 and they were all interned. Very fortunately they were released and they returned to New Zealand, under a prisoner swap.
Arndt married in 1920 and went to live in Motueka where she continued to paint and taught summer art classes.
While in Europe she had exhibited widely in London, Paris and Berlin and been a part of a contemporary international arts community where she achieved success with her work. During her lifetime New Zealand critics did not respond favourably to her. Arndt’s innovative style with colour, mixing mediums and techniques influenced the work of many artists.
Image Dimensions: 455mm W x 600mm H
Framing: Framed
Frame Dimensions: 660mm W x 830mm H
