Regarded as a leading 20th Century New Zealand artist, Rita studied at the Canterbury College School of Art from 1927 to 1933 where she was trained in life drawing, still life and landscape painting. She was also a well-known traveller and pacifist.
In her distinctive and highly personal style, she produced some of New Zealand’s most memorable and well-loved paintings including landscapes, abstracts, self-portraits and nocturnes.
When asked about her work in 1947, she replied “As a woman painter, I work to represent love of humanity and faith in mankind in a world, which is to me, richly variable and infinitely beautiful.
