Provenance Private Collection, acquired from the artist

Born in Northland, Pauline Yearbury moved to Auckland in her teens to attend Elam School of Fine Arts. Curator Nigel Borrell has stated, "The first Māori person to gain a fine arts qualification was Pauline Yearbury (née Blomfield). In 1946, she graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts and went on to tutor part-time at the school in the years that followed. She is widely regarded as one of the first Māori artists to introduce Māori cultural narratives into contemporary art, in a practice that was characterised by a bold and illustrative style."

Yearbury became a leading figure in Māori modernist art, weaving themes of Māori myth and spirituality into her work. Known particularly for her incised wood panel works, Yearbury developed a distinctive modern art practice.