Margot Philips

Margot Leonie Luise Philips (5 April 1902 – 30 December 1988) was a New Zealand painter. Her artworks are held in the collections of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Early life Philips was born to a Jewish family in Duisburg, Germany, the youngest of five children. Philips' father died while she was young, and by the early 1920s she was living at home to support her mother. Her parents died shortly after World War I, and Philips left Germany in 1935 to live in London, before travelling in 1958 to New Zealand to follow her brother Kurt Philips and his wife Trude, who opened Hamilton's first European-style restaurant, Vienna Cafe. The restaurant was known for its potato salad, eel, goulash and good coffee. The family faced discrimination when World War II broke out, as they were classified as "enemy aliens" and required to report weekly to the police. She also took classes at Auckland Art Gallery's summer school, where Colin McCahon mentored and taught her. This group show toured other New Zealand centres during 1963. Manawatu Prize for Contemporary Art 1967, with Gretchen Albrecht, Milan Mrkusich, Stanley Palmer, Michael Smither, Gordon Walters, Claire Jennings, Mary Le Vaillant, Valda Main, Irene O'Neill, Freda Simmonds, Julia van Helden, Hildegard Wieck, and others at the Palmerston North Art Gallery (1967). The Paintings of Margot Philips: A Waikato Art Museum Exhibition at the Waikato Museum, a major retrospective of her works (1983). Margot Philips – Her Own World, a special exhibition at the opening of the Waikato Museum of Art and History in October 1987. This exhibition was held in a gallery that was later named for her – the Margot Philips Gallery.

Death and legacy Philips died on 30 December 1988, and a service was held at Hamilton Park Cemetery at Newstead.