Mollie Tripe

Mary Elizabeth Tripe (née Richardson, 14 September 1870 – 21 September 1939), generally known as Mollie Tripe, was a New Zealand artist and art teacher.

Education and family

Tripe was born Mary Elizabeth Richardson in Christchurch, New Zealand, the daughter of Edward Richardson, a Member of Parliament for Kaiapoi, and his second wife, Frances Mary Elizabeth (Corke) Richardson.^[1] She attended Christchurch Girls' High School.^[2]

In 1900 she married Joseph Albert Tripe, a solicitor, and they had three children.^[2][3]

Art career

Wellington School of Design (WSD), then under the direction of its founder, Arthur Dewhurst Riley. She graduated from the WSD in 1890 with a teaching certificate and went on to get a master's certificate in 1894.^[2] She started teaching drawing at the WSD in 1889; among her colleagues were James Nairn and Mabel Hill.^[1] She left the school following her marriage but continued to give private lessons.^[2] She taught oil painting to artist and print maker Hinehauone Coralie Cook.^[4]

From the 1880s onwards, Tripe exhibited in New Zealand, in London, at the

Sir Michael Myers, William Edward Sanders, and the painter Dolla Richmond.^[1][2]

In 1893, she became the first woman appointed to the council of the

National Art Gallery of New Zealand and its portrait collection.^[2]

She was awarded the Coronation Medal in 1937, and died at her home in Wellington on 21 September 1939.^[2] Her ashes were buried in Karori Cemetery.^[5][6]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mary Elizabeth Tripe.

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Platts, Una. Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists. Avon Fine Prints Ltd, 1980, p. 237.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Vial, Jane. "Mary Elizabeth Tripe". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
3. ^ "Birth Search". bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
4. ^ "Cook, Hinehauone Coralie, 1904-1993". tiaki.natlib.govt.nz. 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
5. ^ "Cemeteries search: cremation". Wellington City Council. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
6. ^ "Cemeteries search: burial". Wellington City Council. Retrieved 6 September 2017.