Guest Blog by Ben Curnow
Betty Curnow (1911–2005) was a close friend of artist Rita Angus (1908–1970). Their friendship spanned more than thirty years, from 1936 to 1970. Betty kept hundreds of pages of handwritten notes about Angus, drawn from her diaries, recording the people she met, events she attended, and her reflections on Angus’s life and work. Among these are detailed insights into Portrait of Betty Curnow (1942), now held by the Auckland Art Gallery.
It is a real pleasure to share this guest blog by Ben Curnow, a descendant of Elizabeth Jamaux “Betty” Curnow (née Le Cren), one of South Canterbury’s remarkable artistic daughters. Born in Timaru in 1911 and descended from pioneer Henry Le Cren, Betty’s story reaches from the early days of our town to the heart of New Zealand’s modern art movement. She grew up in a home alive with creativity, guided by her mother Daisy Le Cren, whose encouragement helped shape a young Colin McCahon. Betty carried that same spirit forward, first as a painter and later as one of the country’s leading printmakers, her work reflecting the light and rhythm of the South Canterbury landscape.
A heartfelt thank you to Ben Curnow for sharing his family’s story and for shining new light on a Timaru artist whose influence reached far beyond our district. His words help reconnect Betty Curnow to the place where her journey began and to all of us who continue to celebrate the creativity that grows from this landscape.
Read on to discover Betty’s story through Ben’s eyes.
Betty wasn’t just from Timaru (many other artists can claim that distinction) but rather, it can be said that Timaru was in her blood. Even the famous portrait of her painted by Rita Angus in the 1940s contains clues to her heritage: she sits in her grandmother’s chair; behind her on the wall is a small oval-framed photograph of her father, Charles Le Cren as a young man, which was by William Ferrier at his studio in the Royal Arcade; above the bookshelf, a small watercolour landscape of the semi-arid South Canterbury hill country that Angus had given to Betty as in recognition of her deep attachment to the district. All this, in a picture that came to be regarded as iconic of New Zealand art of the period.
Betty made this painting of the house she grew up in at 86 Grey Road, Timaru in 1933. I thought the address was familiar, and then I realised I have been on site to measure the replacement house on this section for carpet and curtains when I had a stint working for an interior design and home improvement company. When you drive down towards Nelson Terrace there are a few houses that look very similar. Perhaps all by the same architect or developer at the time.
The family name of Le Cren was indeed synonymous with the early years of Timaru. Betty’s grandfather, Frederic Le Cren (of Elmsdale), along with his brother Henry, had been among the most instrumental figures who shaped the establishment of the fledgling city and played a prominent part in civic life, going all the way back to the 1850s and 1860s. The Le Crens were well known throughout the surrounding district and, at the time when Betty was growing up, must have seemed almost like local aristocracy.
Her early years revolved around the family home at 86 Grey Road, known as ‘Clandon’, a one-and-a-half storey house “two minutes from the Bay”. From the window of her upstairs bedroom window she could see Mount Cook (Aoraki) to one side and the ocean’s horizon to the other. The family was a notably artistic one, particularly in the case of her her mother, Daisy Le Cren, who “painted almost every day of her life”. She attended Waimataitai School, Sacred Heart and Craighead Diocesan School. Although art was not part of the school curriculum in those days, from 1927 to 1929 she has tuition from Albert J. Rae, who visited Craighead once a week and introduced students to a wide range of techniques and ideas that stimulated her interest in modern art.
Section of the 1911 map, showing Wellington Street. Borough of Timaru, South Canterbury. NZ Heritage Maps Platform, accessed 19/09/2025, https://maps.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/336
It was in Timaru, in April 1936, that Betty Le Cren met the young poet Allen Curnow, at the annual St Saviour's fundraising fête for Anglican orphanages. Within four months they were married, and the rest is history. The groom-to-be had been sent to Timaru to cover for three weeks as a reporter for The Press, and was himself Timaruvian by birth; his father, Tremayne M. Curnow had been the Curate at St Mary’s between 1907 and 1912, and he returned to the same church in 1936 to officiate at the wedding.
Following her marriage she went to the School of Art in Christchurch, studying under Archibald Nicholl, Ratae Lovell-Smith, and Francis Shurrock for varying periods in the late 1930s. In the stimulating and culturally charged atmosphere of the 1930s and 1940s, Betty’s friends included Rita Angus, Doris Lusk, Colin McCahon, Molly Macalister, Louise Henderson, Evelyn Page, Douglas MacDiarmid, Leo Bensemann, Bill Sutton, Olivia Spencer-Bower, and Ngaio Marsh among others. She was equally connected to the literary world of Caxton Press and the artists of The Group, who met at The Coffee Pot, in New Regent Street, to discuss matters like the Christchurch City Council’s rejection of Frances Hodgkins’ paintings, one of which was bought as a result of their efforts. Betty’s work in the 1940s and early 1950s focused mainly on oil painting, but she also continued pursue her interest in printmaking.
In 1951 Betty shifted with her young family to Auckland, which at the time seemed somewhat lacking on the level of cultural activity. To keep up her art practice she attended evening classes in the early 1950s, first those taught by Colin McCahon, and then printmaking workshops with Kees Hos, who taught new block-making methods and the use of the mangle press. “This”, said Betty, “threw the doors of printmaking wide open to me”. In 1957, she held her first solo exhibition in this medium at Wellington’s Centre Gallery. On seeing this work, Hos advised her to return to printing seriously. Subsequently developing her own methods and experimental approach, Betty Curnow was widely regarded as a trailblazer of new developments in printmaking in this country.
She visited Timaru and exhibited her work here on numerous occasions, in the course of her long and illustrious career, especially in the 1960s and 1970s when her exhibiting career was at its peak. The South Canterbury landscape appeared frequently in her later work, and in her solo exhibition ‘My Country - South Canterbury Hills’ at Auckland’s New Vision gall
Who would have through that a supermarket apron could become part of New Zealands modernist painting history. featured in the iconic Rita Angus portrait of a pregnant Betty Curnow, the textile is now safely cared for in the Auckland Art Gallery archives. I was curious, why this piece of fabric was such a big deal, so here is a closer look into a textile that is part of New Zealands art history.
Two pieces of printed Britway cotton fabric with a ‘Mexicana’ design of cacti and sombreros, originally from a blouse worn by Betty Curnow in Rita Angus’s 1942 portrait. Source: E. H. McCormick Research Library, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Betty Curnow Mexicana Fabric. Creator: Betty Curnow. Date range: 1941–2001. Accession no. RC2024/11. Open Access by Appointment. Copyright expired. .aucklandartgallery.com/38929
Betty Curnow (née Le Cren) was born in Geraldine, Timaru District, 31 October 1911. Her full name was Elizabeth Jaumaud Le Cren. She was part of a well-known early European Timaru family, the Le Crens, whose roots go back to Henry Le Cren, one of Timaru’s founding settlers and merchants int he late 1850s, and business partner of Captain Henry Cain. Betty was the daughter of Daisy Le Cren (née Roberts 1881–1951). Daisy was born in Timaru, married Charle Le Cren, painted watercolours and has some very interesting links with fellow Timaruv-vian and famous modern New Zealand artist, Colin McCahon. Daisy died in Auckland. Betty grew up in Timaru before moving to Christchurch for her education and early adult life. In the 1980s, she again turned to painting to express her profound and life-long connections to South Canterbury.
Shand House at Craighead School was where Henry Le Cren lived until his death. Featured in booklet issued by authority of the municipality of Timaru on the occasion of the centennial of the Dominion of New Zealand, 1940.. Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 06/10/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/780
Roselyn Fauths reflections from Ben's Blog and Betty's story.
Reading Ben’s words about his grandmother, Betty Curnow, reminded me how deeply art and place are connected. He brings her to life not only as an artist, but as a daughter of Timaru — someone whose story began in the same light, wind and hills that still shape us today.
Through Ben’s eyes, we see how one family’s story reflects the evolution of a community and its culture. From Henry Le Cren, one of Timaru’s earliest European settlers, to Daisy Le Cren quietly encouraging young artists like Colin McCahon, and on to Betty’s own achievements as a painter and printmaker, their story feels woven through the growth of this district. It reminds me how creativity, belonging and place have always gone hand in hand here.
I remember first learning about Betty’s portrait in art history class at Timaru Girls’ High. Seeing Rita Angus’s style for the first time changed how I looked at the world around me. I started noticing the colour of the Canterbury light, the shapes of the hills, and how artists used these familiar landscapes to tell bigger stories. That class planted the seed for my love of regional art — art that speaks of who we are, where we stand, and how the land itself finds its way into our imagination. The works left behind by Betty and her contemporaries feel like quiet signposts, showing how they saw and understood their world at the time.
It is sad that Betty’s family home is long gone, but a wander through the neighbourhood still reveals houses of that same era and style. They give us a sense of the architecture of her time, and of the homes people built for themselves in this district — sturdy, personal, and full of stories.
I also love that one of Betty’s artworks, made using a simple piece of supermarket apron, was later acquired by the Auckland Art Gallery. There is something quietly profound in that — a reminder that what we make, and what we choose to keep, can transform the ordinary into something lasting. It makes me think about the stories, art and everyday objects we protect for future generations, and how they will one day use them to reflect on where we have come from.
Ben’s blog has reminded me that local history is never still. It lives on through those who remember, reinterpret and share it. By reconnecting Betty Curnow to Timaru’s story, Ben hasn’t just honoured his own family — he has helped all of us see our place in the wider story of New Zealand art, and the beauty that begins right here at home.
86 Grey Road - httpspropertysearch.canterburymaps.govt.nzpropertypropertyPoint=1460494.0195919354,5082755.269856099