Elisabeth Johanna Noordhof (24 February 1924 – 7 March 2013), known as Els Noordhof or Els Noordhof-Smith, was a Dutch-born portrait artist and book illustrator.
Els Noordhof | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elisabeth Johanna Noordhof 24 February 1924 Bloemendaal, Holland |
| Died | 7 March 2013 Otago, New Zealand |
| Nationality | Dutch, American, New Zealander |
| Occupation(s) | Illustrator, artist |
Early life
editElisabeth Johanna Noordhof was born in 1924 in Bloemendaal, Holland, the daughter of Gosse Eilke Noordhof.[1] She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Rijksmuseum in 1945.[2] Her older brother George H. Noordhof became a filmmaker in England.[3]
Career
editNoordhof lived in England and the United States after World War II.[4][5] She and her family settled in New Zealand in 1966.[2][6] She had a studio in Dunedin, and taught at the University of Otago's summer arts schools in Kurow.[2] She painted the official portraits of several mayors of Dunedin, though mayor Sukhi Turner was not fond of her Noordhof portrait, and replaced it with a photograph in the city council chambers.[7] She was a patron of the Otago Art Society.[8]
Books illustrated by Els Noordhof
edit- Ruth Dallas, Ragamuffin Scarecrow (1969)[9][10]
- Olive Smithells, Look After Your Back, Streamline Your Front (1970)[11]
- Esther Glen, Six Little New Zealanders (1983)[12]
- Esther Glen, Uncles Three at Kamahi (1985)[13]
Personal life and legacy
editIn 1949, while she was living in Cambridge, Noordhof married an American Fulbright scholar, Harold "Hal" Wendell Smith.[1] They had four children.[6] She was widowed when Smith died in 2006, and she died in 2013, aged 89 years. The National Library of New Zealand holds audio recordings of a 2002 oral history interview with Noordhof, conducted by Penelope Dunkley.[14]
Her work was included in a 2017 exhibit, "About Face: Selected Portraits from the Collection", at the Eastern Southland Gallery.[15]
References
edit- ^ a b "Wedding Takes Place in Cambridge, England". The Evening Independent. 8 July 1949. p. 7. Retrieved 14 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "Hocken Legacy". University of Otago Magazine. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ^ "George Noordhof". BFI. Retrieved 14 April 2020.[dead link]
- ^ "Return from England". The Evening Independent. 1 September 1950. p. 7. Retrieved 14 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Birth announcement". The Evening Independent. 20 October 1952. p. 2. Retrieved 14 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Hal Smith: Lunchtime Poetry Readings" CSA News (July–August 1985): 3.
- ^ "Painting Snuck In". Channel 39. 5 April 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ^ "The Permanent Collection". The Otago Art Society. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ^ Twentieth-century Children's Writers. Macmillan International Higher Education. 10 November 1978. p. 336. ISBN 978-1-349-03648-6.
- ^ "The Black Art, Special Collections Exhibition". University of Otago Library, New Zealand. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ^ Smithells, Olive; Noordhof, Els (1970). Look after your back, streamline your front. Dunedin, N.Z. : John McIndoe.
- ^ Glen, Esther (1983). Six little New Zealanders. Auckland, N.Z. : Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-33881-0.
- ^ "Esther Glen". Storylines. Archived from the original on 26 January 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ^ Noordhof, Elisabeth Johanna (22 March 2002). "Interview with Elizabeth Noordhof". Interview with Elizabeth Noordhof | Items | National Library of New Zealand | National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ^ "About Face". esgallery-x. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
External links
edit- A 1967 ink portrait by Elisabeth Noordhof, of poet James K. Baxter, in the Alexander Turnbull Library.
- "Boy and His Shadow" (circa 1976), a painting by Elisabeth Noordhof, in the collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
- 1969 newspaper photograph of Els Noordhof, Ruth Dallas and Keith Maslen, from a University of Otago Library exhibit.
