Patricia France

Patricia France (29 May 1911 – 8 March 1995) was a New Zealand abstract artist. She took up painting in her mid-fifties as part of counselling and art therapy at a private psychiatric hospital in Dunedin. She was noted for her unique, unmistakable paintings, as well as her independent charm and quiet flair.

Biography

Early life France was the only child of William Goldie Cave and Mabel France. Her mother's well-to-do Auckland family came out from Great Britain on the Amelia Thompson in 1841.

France adored her father, but this changed when she was eight and her parents' marriage failed. Her father deserted his wife and daughter, either by death or abandonment. It is inconclusive.

After her father's "death", she and her mother lived with her grandmother and aunt in Auckland. She attended the Auckland Diocesan School for Girls, Nelson College for Girls and Wanganui Girls' College, and left school vivacious, intelligent and feminine. On their return in 1931, they lived in Remuera, a fashionable Auckland superb, albeit with little money.

Mid life During World War II, France did social work at the St John Voluntary Aid at the Ellerslie Racecourse Military Hospital.

Artistic career "Cured" her depression through art therapy, she returned to society in 1966 and, with her inheritance, purchased a wooden villa at 396 Highgate, Dunedin. She had little interest in money for its own sake and was concerned about women and children subjected to domestic violence. 1993: Dobson Bashford Gallery, Christchurch 1994: 'We're still here: a celebration of achievement', Milford Galleries, Dunedin undated: RKS Art, Auckland Fletcher Challenge, Wellington Hocken Collections, Dunedin Forrester Gallery, Oamaru Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington National Art Gallery, Wellington National Library Collection, Christchurch

Book covers

Alison Gray, Mothers & Daughters, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 1993 Philip Mincher, All the Wild Summer, John McIndoe, Dunedin, 1985