Illustrated: p. 101 By the Waters of Babylon, The Art of A. Lois White, Nicola Green, David Bateman, 1993

Exhibited:

By the Waters of Babylon, The Art of A. Lois White

Auckland City Art Gallery March - May 1994

Waikato Museum of Art & History July - August 1994

Dunedin Public Art Gallery October - November 1994

Te Papa Tongarewa December 1984 - January 1995

Hawke's Bay Museum February - March 1995

Robert McDougall Art Gallery April - May 1995

At the time she made this painting Lois White felt under siege. The Elam School of Art where she had taught for many years and the Auckland Society of Arts where she regularly exhibited were both receiving adverse public criticism from the reforming director of the Auckland Art Gallery, Eric Westbrook. At Elam, Lois White continued to teach as she always had though her students were becoming increasingly impatient with both her traditional methods and aggressive manner. Few of them knew, let alone respected her earlier work, based, like her teaching, on a strong sense of design. Sometimes she would come to class only to find the room empty of students. In this self portrait she stands at her easel holding a palette and brush, wearing a traditional artist's smock over her dress and looking not at the work in hand but directly outwards. Her expression is defiant. The portrait is a strong statement of identity.

PETER SHAW