Elizabeth Steiner Collection

I first met Elizabeth Steiner in 1968 when I was living in Titirangi and supplementing my income by teaching evening classes in painting and ceramics at Kelston Girls High School in West Auckland. She has remained a close friend from that time. Elizabeth‘s talent in drawing and painting was immediately obvious and I discovered she had attended Canterbury School of Fine Arts for two years in the early 1950’s along with fellow students Pat Hanly, John Coley, Quentin McFarlane and Hamish Keith. Over the years we have kept in touch and in 1974 when I started a small private art teaching class, Elizabeth was one of five women who joined it over a three year period. In the 1960’s, Elizabeth and her husband Trevor began collecting European limited edition prints by artists such as Victor Vasarely, Pierre Alechinsky and Sonia Delauney. Paintings by Frances Hodgkins and Colin McCahon were then added to their collection which gradually broadened to include paintings, works on paper and ceramics by other contemporary New Zealand artists. Elizabeth and Trevor were early collectors of my art, amassing over the years a considerable collection. Among the first works of mine that they purchased was the 1967 watercolour and ink on paper preparatory study for the painting Wooden Horse that had been purchased by Auckland City Art Gallery in 1967. The three major paintings of mine being presented in this auction were all bought from the exhibitions where they were first exhibited. Garden no. 11, 1971 was purchased from my 1978 exhibition, Gardens, 10 Paintings from 1971 at Peter Webb Gallery in his Lorne Street premises. Violet Edge, 1976 was purchased from my solo exhibition Paintings 1975 – 1976, 1977 at Barry Lett Galleries. Measure (Jade) 1994 was purchased from my solo exhibition Gretchen Albrecht, 1994 at Sue Crockford Gallery. Elizabeth had a remarkable eye for quality and her purchases were always focused on the best of my work, but more importantly she encouraged and supported my endeavours in this very positive and timely manner. Elizabeth has maintained a lifelong interest in printmaking, bookbinding and handmade artist’s books. These became her main artistic practice and her books are represented in many important overseas museum collections. The Steiners lived for over fifty years in their Kohu Road, Titirangi house surrounded by their art collection until Trevor’s death in 2007 and, more recently, Elizabeth’s need to move into care in Australia to be near her son and grandchildren. GRETCHEN ALBRECHT