Margot Philips


Margot Leonie Luise Philips was a New Zealand painter. Her artworks are held in the collections of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Early life

Philips was born to a Jewish family in Duisburg, Germany, the youngest of five children. Philips' father died while she was young, and by the early 1920s she was living at home to support her mother. Her parents died shortly after World War I, and Philips left Germany in 1935 to live in London, before travelling in 1958 to New Zealand to follow her brother Kurt Philips and his wife Trude, who opened Hamilton's first restaurant, Vienna Cafe. The restaurant was known for its potato salad, eel, goulash and good coffee. The family faced discrimination when World War II broke out, as they were classified as "enemy aliens" and required to report weekly to the police. Philips worked in the restaurant upon her arrival in New Zealand, and through waiting tables Philips became friends with Te Puea Herangi.

Career

Philips took drawing classes at Hamilton's Technical School and the Workers' Educational Association, and then took summer school art courses at Ardmore Teachers' Training College. She also took classes at Auckland Art Gallery's summer school, where Colin McCahon mentored and taught her. Philips' works focused mostly on her visualisation of the Waikato landscape.
Philips exhibited widely in New Zealand, including:
Philips died on 30 December 1988, and a service was held at Hamilton Park Cemetery at Newstead.
Playwright Campbell Smith wrote a play based on Philips' life, titled This Green Land: Margot Philips – Painter, which drew on his memories of his own friendship with Philips, plus an interview with Tim Walker from 1987. The play was first performed in 2002 at Hamilton's Fuel Festival, directed by Alec Forbes, and in July 2009 a production, also directed by Forbes and starring Maria Eaton and Renee Casserley, was staged at the Waikato Museum to honour the 75th anniversary of the Waikato Society of Arts.