Pauline Yearbury

Pauline Kahurangi Yearbury (; 31 December 1928 – 27 May 1977) was a New Zealand artist. She is considered a leading practitioner in Māori modernist art, and her work is held by the Whangarei Museum, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Russell Museum.

Biography

Early life and education Yearbury was born in 1926 in Matauri Bay, Northland, New Zealand to Valentine Blomfield and Waiatua Hikuwai Ihaia. She went to school in Russell and in 1943 moved to Auckland to attend Elam School of Fine Arts.She was one of the first two Māori women who studied at the school; graduating in 1946, she became the first Māori person to receive a fine arts degree. Among other subjects, she learnt painting with John Weeks and mural design with Archie Fisher, the head of the school.

Early influence to Yearbury's drawings were Elam School of Fine Arts teacher Lois White and Director Archibald Joseph Charles, whose skills were grounded in crisp lines and gradual shading. One of her largest murals was created in collaboration with her husband Jim - a nine-metre-long depiction of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi for Waitangi Hotel in 1964. From 1966 to 1977 the couple also ran an art studio in the town, which displayed and sold the couple's wood panels of legendary Māori figures – these were designed by Yearbury and incised and coloured by her husband.

Within the book, Yearbury credits Māori educator and community leader Maitu Te Hau as well as Māori Labour Party membersWhetu Tirikatene-Sullivan & Matiu Rata for their assistance. incised wood panel, dyed stain Pauline Kahurangi Yearbury, James Yearbury 1976 Tawhirimatea incised wood panel, dyed stain Pauline Kahurangi Yearbury, James Yearbury unknown Haka incised wood on panel Pauline Kahurangi Yearbury, James Yearbury unknown Maori Madonna and Child incised wood panel Pauline Kahurangi Yearbury unknown Tane-Mahuta incised wood panel Pauline Kahurangi Yearbury

End of Life In 1977, one year after The Children of Rangi and Papa was published Pauline Yearbury passed away at age 50.

Legacy In 2014, her painting Papatuanuku and Ranginui was featured on a New Zealand Post postage stamp.

Personal life Yearbury married Jim Yearbury in the late 1940s, a fellow student at Elam School of Fine Arts. She was of the Ngāpuhi iwi.

In The Children of Rangi and Papa: The Maori Creation Story Yearbury thanks her mother in the dedication; 'For my mother, Waiatua Hikuwai Ihaia Bloomfield, "from whence I am", as well as her husband Jim by stating "with whom, I am...".