Endless Fascination
2 Oct 2025
2 Nov 2025
Daisy Le Cren, Betty Curnow and Nadia Curnow
Endless Fascination brings together past and present in warm and intimate exhibition featuring three artists with close connection to Canterbury: Daisy Le Cren (1879 - 1959), Betty Curnow (1911 - 2005), and Nadia Curnow (born 1962). Each artist represents a different epoch in the region’s cultural heritage. The selected artworks include watercolour, printmaking and contemporary painting, and span more than a hundred years.
Nadia Curnow is a Timaru-based artist held a one-person exhibition at the Ashburton Art Gallery earlier this year. Her paintings are held in public and private collections in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Russia and Japan.
Betty Curnow was an instrumental figure for her generation, both in Christchurch and later in Auckland. Betty was a successful exhibiting artist. Her career peaking in the 1950s and 1960s, when she was working full-time in printmaking media. Included in the exhibition is Betty’s painting of Frederick and Evelyn Page’s house at Governors Bay, where she spent holidays in the 1940s. Betty’s portrait was painted by Rita Angus, Louise Henderson, and Doris Lusk.
The enigmatic Daisy Le Cren was the subject of a tribute in 16 parts by the artist Colin McCahon. Four of these panels are now in the permanent collection of the Aigantighe Art Galley, along with original artworks by Betty Curnow and Nadia Curnow. Daisy Le Cren was the mother of Betty Curnow. Daisy’s work is being shown to the public for the first time in many years.