Artwork Information

Toss Woollaston did many quick sketches of his family and friends throughout his career. He valued these highly, as these comments from 1941 illustrate: It is a standing reproof to me, that the best drawing I have ever done, the earlier drawing of my mother, was done on the reverse side of lined writing-pad paper in ordinary ink in 2 minutes until she became aware I was drawing her, & fled. The sketch to which he refers is The Painter’s Mother 1933, in the collection of Te Papa. (Intimate Portraits, 2005)