Adele Younghusband

Adela Mary Younghusband (née Roche, 3 April 1878 – 3 April 1969), generally known as Adele Younghusband, was a New Zealand painter, photographer and printmaker.

Biography Adela Mary Roche was born in Te Awamutu on 3 April 1878. She married Frank Younghusband in Christchurch on 1 August 1905, and they went on to have three children, before separating in 1917. In 1921, Younghusband founded the Whangarei Arts and Literary Society, and acted as its secretary. During her time in Australia, she was a member of the Victoria Society of Arts. In the early 1950s, when she was back in Auckland, she instigated the Phoenix Group of painters.

Interest has grown in Younghusband's work since her death, notably with survey exhibitions organised by the Whangarei Art Museum, which holds a number of her works. The exhibition Adele Younghusband: In Context was presented in 1998 and toured to venues including the Sarjeant Gallery and Te Tuhi (then known as The Fisher Gallery), and the exhibition Adele Younghusband: The Cursive Line, featuring more than 70 works, was presented in 2008 and toured to venues including the Waikato Museum and the Gus Fisher Gallery where it was shown under the title New Zealand Surrealist. Both exhibitions were curated and toured by Whangarei Art Museum Director, Scott Pothan.

Art Younghusband has a large and varied body of work, and she continued to produce new pieces well into her eighties. An Exhibition of Paintings and Lino-Cuts by Adele Younghusband, Lodestar Galleries Sydney, 1937 Solo Exhibition Auckland Society of Arts, 1941 Solo Exhibition Waikato Society of Arts, 1945 Solo Exhibition Auckland Society of Arts, 1957 John Leech Gallery Auckland, 1991 Adele Younghusband: In Context, Whangarei Art Museum, 1998 (toured to venues including the Sarjeant Gallery and Te Tuhi (fka The Fisher Gallery) Adele Younghusband: The Cursive Line, Whangarei Art Museum, 2008 (toured to venues including Gus Fisher Gallery and Waikato Art Museum)

Selected group exhibitions New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts Annual Exhibition, 1932 New Zealand Society of Artists First General Exhibition, 1933 Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Toi Te Papa | Art Of The Nation, 2005 Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki: Modern Women: Flight of Time, 2025