{{Short description|New Zealand commercial artist, fashion illustrator and printmaker (1929–2025)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox artist | name = Kate Coolahan | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=100%}} | image = Kate Coolahan 2003.jpg | alt = | caption = Coolahan in 2003 | birth_name = Cathrine Anne Castle | birth_date = {{Birth date|1929|11|02|df=y}} | birth_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|01|03|1929|11|02|df=y}} | death_place = Tītahi Bay, New Zealand | education = | alma_mater = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = {{marriage|Max Coolahan|1951|1985|end=d.}} | children = | relatives = | awards = }}
'''Cathrine Anne Coolahan''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=85%}} (née '''Castle'''; 2 November 1929 – 3 January 2025) was a New Zealand commercial artist, fashion illustrator and printmaker.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Coolahan, Kate|url=https://findnzartists.org.nz/artist/3302/kate-coolahan|access-date=20 June 2021|website=findnzartists.org.nz}}</ref> Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and the British Museum.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kate Coolahan|url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/agent/493|access-date=20 June 2021|website=collections.tepapa.govt.nz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Kate Coolahan|url=https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artist/606/kate-coolahan|access-date=20 June 2021|website=Auckland Art Gallery|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Collections Online {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG196722|access-date=20 June 2021|website=www.britishmuseum.org}}</ref>
== Life and career == Coolahan was born in Sydney, Australia, to Roderick Castle, a printer, and Dorothy Vera Evans, a homemaker.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Art New Zealand|url=https://www.art-newzealand.com/Issue104/Kate.htm|access-date=20 June 2021|website=www.art-newzealand.com|archive-date=24 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624203911/https://www.art-newzealand.com/Issue104/Kate.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> She attended Neutral Bay Girls Junior High School and then studied art at the East Sydney Technical College from 1945 to 1950,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Kate Coolahan|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG196722|access-date=20 June 2021|website=www.britishmuseum.org}}</ref> graduating with honours in 1950. She then worked in the art department of Farmer & Co., a Sydney department store, where she designed brochures, wrapping paper, packaging and advertising.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=A Fashionable Line: the 'other' life of Kate Coolahan|url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/3639|access-date=20 June 2021|website=collections.tepapa.govt.nz}}</ref>
Coolahan met her husband, Max Coolahan, at East Sydney Technical College.<ref name=":1" /> They married in Sydney on 5 March 1951.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search/marriages |title=Marriage search: registration number 814/1951 |website=NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages |access-date=4 February 2025}}</ref>
In 1952, Coolahan took a three-month position in Wellington, New Zealand, with the advertising agency J. Inglis Wright Ltd, which then became a permanent position.<ref name=":1" /> In 1954 she moved to a rival Wellington advertising agency, Carlton Carruthers du Chateau and King. One of the agency's key clients was Lane Walker Rudkin, a Christchurch-based clothing manufacturer. Coolahan designed packaging and promotional material for the company's Canterbury label, which included clothing, lingerie, hosiery, children's wear and swim wear. In 1957 she left the agency due to the effects of an accident that had injured her right hand. While recuperating, she worked at the Dominion Museum as an assistant education officer.<ref name=":0" />
In 1959, Coolahan returned to the advertising industry, working for James Smith Ltd, a Wellington department store, where she created a house style for the store's fashion campaigns. She worked again for Carlton Carruthers du Chateau and then at James Smith part-time while she taught design part-time at Wellington Polytechnic. She also studied printmaking and etching under John Drawbridge and became noted for her printwork.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" />
In 1964, she resigned from James Smith and worked as a freelance designer and tutor. Her clients included the New Zealand Broadcasting Association and NZBC Symphony Orchestra. She also painted and exhibited, including in the contemporary New Zealand painting exhibitions at the Auckland City Art Gallery in 1964 and 1965.<ref name=":1" /> She continued to teach design at Wellington Polytechnic until 1983.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Previous {{!}} Things Have a Long Way to Go—Contemporary Female Artists Respond to Kate Coolahan |url=https://www.webbs.co.nz/wellington-gallery/things-have-a-long-way-to-go-contemporary-female-artists-respond-to-kate-coolahan-9llj2-fl6l2-zsjg3-985tn |access-date=2026-05-12 |website=Webbs – NZ Specialist Auctioneers & Valuers |language=en-NZ}}</ref>
In 1985 and 1986, a retrospective exhibition of Coolahan's work toured New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hutchings|first=Patrick|date=1 June 1985|title=Kate Coolahan retrospective - a question of images|url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/20780593|access-date=20 June 2021|website=Landfall, Jun 1985; n.154:p.186–192; issn}}</ref>
Coolahan died at Tītahi Bay on 3 January 2025 at the age of 95. She was predeceased by her husband in 1985.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://notices.nzherald.co.nz/nz/obituaries/nzherald-nz/name/cathrine-coolahan-obituary?id=57231047 |title=Cathrine Coolahan obituary |date=11 January 2025 |work=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=11 January 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artist/10797/max-coolahan |title=Max Coolahan |website=Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki |access-date=11 January 2025}}</ref>
== Recognition == In 2003, Coolahan was conferred an honorary doctorate by Massey University.<ref name=":0" /> She was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to the arts.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Queen's Birthday Honours List 2007|url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-2007|access-date=17 November 2021|website=The Queen's Birthday Honours List 2007|language=en-NZ}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Coolahan, Kate}} Category:1929 births Category:2025 deaths Category:Australian emigrants to New Zealand Category:Artists from Sydney Category:Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:National Art School alumni Category:New Zealand printmakers Category:20th-century New Zealand women artists