Doris Lusk aka Doris Holland

Doris Lusk (b.1916, d.1990) lived a double life. As Lusk she was a well-respected painter, but under her married name, Holland, she was a potter.

Doris was born in Dunedin, grew up in Hamilton, and returned to Dunedin for art school in 1934. It was there that she met her close friend Colin McCahon and his wife Anne Hamblett. It was with them, and their mutual friend Rodney Kennedy, that she first visited Nelson in 1939.

On Christmas Eve 1942 Doris married Dermot John Tasker Holland and the couple moved to Christchurch. It was here that she exhibited her paintings with an assortment of artists who called themselves The Group. The artists that made up The Group were also interwoven with the literary figures that where associated with the now iconic Caxton Press and Doris’ friends and acquaintances during this time included Rita Angus, Leo Bensemann, Allen and Betty Curnow, Charles Brasch and James K. Baxter. In the circular fashion of many avant-garde movements they supported each other though purchasing artwork and exhibiting together.

Her strength as a painter was in watercolours, and The Suter has in its collection two very lovely examples of her work from the 1960s. Both of the Nelson region, an area in which she spent a significant amount of time, they display what art historians Hamish Keith and Gordon Brown described as ‘unpretentious, well-considered’[1] but also deeply emotive, particularly in the case of the desolate ruins of Onekaka Wharf. The bones of this structure still stand, a listed historic site that acts as a memorial to the ironworks that operated at Onekaka from 1924-1935. In Doris’ hands the wharf becomes a lost site, a place that’s purpose has rotted away with the evolution of economies and time.  

Doris LUSK (New Zealander, b.1916, d.1990), Untitled*, 1969, watercolour, crayon and charcoal on paper, 608 x 768mm. Presented by the Nelson Suter Art Society in 1998.
*Identified as the disused wharf at Onekaka, Golden Bay.

Her paintings and association with The Group is how she is primarily remembered, but she was also a pivotal figure in the history of ceramics in Canterbury. Under her married name, Holland, she taught ceramics for 20 years and was president of the Canterbury Potter’s Association. 

The Suter has four small ceramic works by Doris in our collection. While not truly indicative of her skill and ambition as a potter, they have the thing a gallery or museum covets the most – a clear provenance. Provenance is, simply, the history of an object. To guarantee its authenticity we must know how it has moved from the artist’s hand and into our collection. In this instance it has a solid path from Doris to her friend and fellow member of The Group Leo Bensemann, to his daughter Cathy Harrington and finally to The Suter.

Doris HOLLAND (New Zealander, b.1916, d.1990), Boulder pots, glazed terracotta, 77 x 79 x 58mm. Gifted by Cathy Harrington in 2011.

Doris HOLLAND (New Zealander, b.1916, d.1990), Boulder pots, glazed terracotta, 77 x 79 x 58mm. Gifted by Cathy Harrington in 2011.

Doris HOLLAND (New Zealander, b.1916, d.1990), Ceramic pendant, glazed terracotta and leather, 65 x 65 x 15mm. Gifted by Cathy Harrington in 2011.

This is also a perfect example of how artworks enter The Suter’s collection. Our collection has always grown through gifts of artworks, bequests and monetary donations. The Suter does not have an ongoing collection fund and we rely on the generosity of supporters and art lovers to donate both funds and artworks.

Scheduled for this year, the dates up in the air due to the 2020 lockdown, we are holding an exhibition titled Nelson Hills. The exhibition will bring together a selection of work created by members of The Group as a result of the time they spent in the Nelson/Tasman region, a place that inspired some of the greatest artworks in New Zealand’s art history. Make sure you follow us on social media and check our website where we will be confirming the dates for Nelson Hills as soon as we can!

Doris LUSK (New Zealander, b.1916, d.1990), Parapara Estuary, Nelson, 1965, watercolour and acrylic on paper, 470 x 630mm. Purchased, 2017.

To learn more about Doris and these artists I recommend visiting their biographies on Te Ara -  

Doris Lusk
Colin McCahon
Rita Angus
Rodney Kennedy
Leo Bensemann
Allen Curnow
Charles Brasch
James K. Baxter

Sarah McClintock
The Suter Curator and Collection Manager

[1] Gordon H Brown and Hamish Keith, An Introduction to New Zealand Painting 1939-1967, Auckland, 1969, pp.135-6.