M T (Toss) Woollaston

Courtesy of the Toss Woollaston Trust, Atkins Gallery is honoured to present a selection of original oils, watercolours and drawings by Toss Woollaston. Sir Mountford Tosswill (Toss) Woollaston (1910 to 1998) was knighted for his services to painting in 1979.

Born in Toko, Taranaki, he moved to Motueka in 1928. This was the start of his Tasman residence, an ongoing relationship throughout his highly productive life painting and drawing in the region. He also painted the landscape of the West Coast (where he lived from 1949 to 1968), Taranaki, Wellington, Lyttelton and sites from various visits to the United States.

Toss Woollaston is the Nelson/Tasman region’s most esteemed artist and one of New Zealand art history’s most important 20th century artists, a pioneer of European modernism.

The work currently on display includes watercolours of Tasman Bay, Mt Campbell (Brownacre), Mt Arthur, Horoirangi (Glenduan), as well as some images of Auckland (Tamaki Makaurau). Also included are drawings, with a pencil sketch of Tasman Bay and an early portrait of the famous local identity Eelco Boswijk. All artworks are for sale and the gallery can pack and send them around New Zealand.