{{Short description|New Zealand artist (1945–2025)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox artist | name = Philippa Blair | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Philippa Mary Blair | birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|11|18|df=y}} | birth_place = Christchurch, New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|01|05|1945|11|18|df=y}} | death_place = Auckland, New Zealand | education = | alma_mater = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|James Hutchison|||end=div.}}|{{marriage|John Porter||2018|end=d.}}}} | children = 2 | relatives = | awards = | website = {{URL|https://www.philippablair.com}} }}
'''Philippa Mary Blair''' (18 November 1945 – 5 January 2025) was a New Zealand artist. Her works are held in the collections of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artist/646/philippa-blair|title=Philippa Blair|work=Auckland Art Gallery|access-date=2018-08-26|language=en}}</ref> Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/agent/224|title=Philippa Blair|website=collections.tepapa.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-08-26}}</ref> and the University of Auckland.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Art Collection > "Tree of Knowledge"|url=https://artcollection.auckland.ac.nz/record/69085|access-date=2020-12-02|website=artcollection.auckland.ac.nz}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Blair was born in Christchurch on 18 November 1945, the daughter of Grace Evelyn Blair (née Mackenzie) and Ian Douglas Blair.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19451119.2.3 |title=Births |date=19 November 1945 |work=The Press |volume=81 |issue=24727 |page=1 |access-date=8 January 2025 |via=PapersPast}}</ref> Her father was a microbiologist at Canterbury Agricultural College (now Lincoln University).<ref name="Fe29">{{cite web |url=https://fe29.com/work/philippa-blair-gouache-works/ |title=Philippa Blair – gouache works |publisher=Fe29 |access-date=8 January 2025}}</ref> Her mother was a professional soprano and pianist, and had studied art at Canterbury Art School where she was a contemporary of Rita Angus.<ref name="Fe29"/>
Blair studied at the University of Canterbury from 1965 to 1967, under Rudolf Gopas and Don Peebles. She graduated with a Diploma of Fine Arts (painting) in 1967. At age 22, Blair married and went to live at Wairoa, teaching art at the local college, before living in Australia for several years. It was at this point that she began to commit herself seriously to painting.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=New Zealand women artists : a survey of 150 years|last=Kirker, Anne, 1947-|date=1993|publisher=Craftsman House|isbn=9768097302|location=Tortola, BVI|pages=141–144|oclc=28491897}}</ref>
In 1976, Blair completed a Diploma of Teaching in Secondary School Fine Art at Secondary Teachers' College in Auckland.
== Career == Blair's early painting works produced while living in Australia include ''Open Window - Brisbane'' (1969) and ''Primary Reflection'' (Melbourne 1971). Initially, Blair's intuitive and expressionistic style was not readily accepted in New Zealand, but was accepted by Kees and Tina Hos who began exhibiting Blair's work at New Vision Gallery in Auckland from 1975.<ref name=":0" />
Blair worked primarily as a painter, and made semi-abstract work. Her works from the 1980s are reminiscent of works by Jackson Pollock and Len Lye, which Blair was familiar with and admired for their 'movement' and 'fugitive' qualities.<ref name=":0" /> She worked as both a secondary school art teacher and university painting tutor from 1968 onwards.
Blair moved from New Zealand to the United States in 1995 with her husband John Porter, and they lived at Venice Beach and San Pedro, California before moving back to Auckland, New Zealand in 2015.<ref name="stuff.co.nz">{{Cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/art-and-stage/visual-art/68105283/the-fast-arrow-of-painter-philippa-blair|title=The Fast Arrow of painter Philippa Blair|website=Stuff|date=28 April 2015 |language=en|access-date=2018-08-26}}</ref>
== Personal life and death == In 1967, Blair became engaged to James Drummond Hutchison.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19670323.2.22.11 |title=Engagements |date=23 March 1967 |work=The Press |volume=106 |issue=31326 |page=2 |access-date=8 January 2025 |via=PapersPast}}</ref> They married and had two children including the art curator and writer Alice Hutchison,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/62840016/manhattan-transfer |title=Manhattan transfer |work=Stuff |date=31 October 2014 |access-date=8 January 2025}}</ref> but later divorced.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search#/entity/aims-archive/R22728099/ |title=Hutchison, James Drummond v Hutchison, Philippa Mary |website=Archives New Zealand |access-date=8 January 2025}}</ref>
Blair died in Auckland on 5 January 2025, at the age of 79.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://notices.nzherald.co.nz/nz/obituaries/nzherald-nz/name/philippa-blair-obituary?id=57194953 |title=Philippa Blair obituary |date=8 January 2025 |work=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=8 January 2025}}</ref> She had been predeceased by her husband, John Porter, in 2018.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://notices.nzherald.co.nz/nz/obituaries/nzherald-nz/name/john-porter-obituary?id=42556055 |title=John Porter obituary |date=8 December 2018 |work=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=8 January 2025}}</ref>
==Exhibitions== Blair exhibited as a solo artist and in group shows widely in New Zealand and the United States, including:
*''Spaces, Mats and Carpets'' at New Vision Gallery, Auckland 1980. The works in this show were paintings built up through dense layers of splattered paint.<ref name=":0" /> *''Packapoo'' at RKS Art, Auckland in 1980.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.art-newzealand.com/Issues21to30/blair.htm|title=Art New Zealand|website=www.art-newzealand.com|access-date=2018-08-26}}</ref> *''Three from New Zealand: Philippa Blair, Christine Hellyar, Ralph Hotere'' (group exhibition with Christine Hellyar and Ralph Hotere) at Long Beach Museum of Art in 1990.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Three from New Zealand: Philippa Blair, Christine Hellyar, Ralph Hotere.|last=Long Beach Museum of Art|date=1990|publisher=RKS Art|location=Auckland, N.Z.|oclc = 154297672|language=English}}</ref> *''Philippa Blair, Survey 1987-1992'' at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Hamilton in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Philippa Blair, survey 1987-1992: 7th-31st July 1992|last1=Blair|first1=Philippa|last2=Smith|first2=Rodney Kirk|last3=Darrow|first3=Kate|last4=Centre for Contemporary Art (Hamilton|first4=N.Z.)|date=1992|publisher=Centre for Contemporary Art|location=Hamilton [N.Z.|oclc = 154171461|language=English}}</ref> *''Philippa Blair: Traverse: Recent Paintings, Drawings, Lithographs'' at Spencer Gallery Wickford, RI and Janne Land Gallery Wellington in 1999.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Philippa Blair: Traverse : recent paintings, drawings, lithographs|last1=Blair|first1=Philippa|last2=Symonds|first2=Henry|last3=Stanley Spencer Gallery|last4=Janne Land Gallery|date=1999|publisher=Spencer Gallery|location=Wickford, RI|oclc = 154606705|language=English}}</ref> *''Transmotion: Drawings and Paintings'' at the DoubleVision Gallery, Los Angeles, California in 2001.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fusco|first=Cassandra|date=2002|title=Tansmotion: Drawings and Paintings by Philippa Blair|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=6422997&site=ehost-live&scope=site|journal=Craft Arts International|volume=54|pages=110–111|via=Ebsco}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Transmotion: drawings & paintings|last1=Blair|first1=Philippa|last2=Laird|first2=Tessa|last3=Double Vision Gallery|date=2001|publisher=Double Vision Gallery|location=Los Angeles|oclc = 155646214|language=English}}</ref> *''Between Heaven and Earth'' (group exhibition with Lawrence Abrahamsen, Fran Bull and Don Lewallen) at Walter Wickiser Gallery, New York in 2003.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Between heaven and earth: February 1-February 27, 2003 : Lawrence Abrahamsen, Philippa Blair, Fran Bull, Don Lewallen.|last=Walter Wickiser Gallery|date=2003|oclc = 52336886|language=English}}</ref> *''Philippa Blair: A 10 Year Survey'' at Warwick Henderson Gallery, Auckland in 2004.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Philippa Blair: a 10 year survey : opening Tuesday 1st of June at 5.30 pm - 20th June 2004.|last1=Blair|first1=Philippa|last2=O'Loughlin|first2=Anna|last3=Henderson|first3=Warwick|last4=Warwick Henderson Gallery|date=2004|publisher=Warwick Henderson Gallery|location=Auckland, N.Z.|oclc = 226965925|language=English}}</ref> *''Crossings'' at PGgallery192, Christchurch in 2015.<ref name="stuff.co.nz"/> *''Dancing Off Score'' at PGgallery192, Christchurch in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/art-and-stage/visual-art/101888826/ten-christchurch-art-exhibitions-you-must-see-in-march|title=Ten Christchurch art exhibitions you must see in March|website=Stuff|date=4 March 2018 |language=en|access-date=2018-08-26}}</ref>
== Residencies and awards == Blair received grants from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council in 1980 and 1984. In 1984, she became the first New Zealander to participate in the artist-in-residence programme at the Canberra School of Art.<ref name=":0" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Philippa}} Category:1945 births Category:2025 deaths Category:Artists from Christchurch Category:New Zealand women artists Category:University of Canterbury alumni Category:New Zealand painters Category:Ilam School of Fine Arts alumni Category:University of Auckland alumni Category:People from San Pedro, Los Angeles