Olivia Spencer Bower


Catherine Olivia Orme Spencer Bower was a New Zealand painter. Born in England, she spent her adult life in New Zealand, mostly in Christchurch.

Early life

Olivia Spencer Bower was born in St Neots, Huntingdonshire, England on 13 April 1905, along with her twin brother, Marmaduke. Her mother, Rosa Dixon, was brought up on a sheep station in Canterbury. An artist, Dixon painted with Margaret Stoddart, and travelled with Stoddart to an artist colony in Cornwall, sailing on the same ship as Frances Hodgkins.
In England, Dixon met and married civil engineer Anthony Spencer Bower. After Anthony Bower's retirement, Rosa supported the family through painting and teaching. They moved to Dorset in 1914 and emigrated to New Zealand in 1920. In Christchurch, Rosa Bower continued to work as a professional artist.

Training and career

In England, Spencer Bower was introduced to the techniques of watercolour painting by her school art teacher. In Christchurch, she attended Rangi Ruru Girls' School and began studying at the Canterbury College School of Art one afternoon a week. Spencer Bower attended the art school for eight years in total, alongside artists such as Rita Angus and Rata Lovell-Smith, leaving at the age of 24.
Spencer Bower then returned to England to study at the Slade School of Fine Art and undertook a painting tour of France and Italy, returning to New Zealand in 1931. Spencer Bower began exhibiting with 'The Group' at this time. She spent more than 5 years in Auckland, studying at the Elam School of Fine Arts. She concentrated on portraits and figurative works, many of them painted in oils.

Death and legacy

Spencer Bower died of lung cancer in Christchurch in 1982. The Olivia Spencer Bower Award, a residency opportunity for artists in New Zealand, was established with funds left by the artist to a charitable trust upon her death.
A biography, Olivia Spencer Bower: Making her own discoveries, by art historian Julie King, was published by Canterbury University Press in 2015.

Collections

Works by Spencer Bower are held in many New Zealand public art galleries and cultural organisations, including the Auckland Art Gallery, the Alexander Turnbull Library, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Christchurch Art Gallery.