Green, yellow, blue - three portraits by Mollie Tripe

Youth, circa 1920s.

The Blue Ribbon, circa 1927.

 Mrs. N.S. Falla, circa 1932.

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Self-portrait, circa 1934.

Mary Elizabeth Tripe, née Richardson, generally known as Mollie Tripe (14 September 1870, Christchurch – 21 September 1939, Wellington), New Zealand artist and art teacher. The daughter of a Member of Parliament for Kaiapoi and his second wife, she studied at the Canterbury School of Art and the new Wellington School of Design (WSD). She graduated from the WSD in 1890 - she had already begun teaching drawing there the year previous - and went on to get a master's certificate in 1894. She left the school following her marriage in 1900 to Joseph Albert Tripe, a solicitor - they had two sons together - but continued to give private lessons. She exhibited in New Zealand, in London, at the Paris Salon, and elsewhere. Starting out as an Impressionist, over time she moved towards a more realistic style, becoming known especially for her portraits of leading New Zealand citizens. In 1893, she became the first woman appointed to the council of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, and she was influential in the founding of the National Art Gallery of New Zealand and its portrait collection. She was awarded the Coronation Medal in 1937, and died at home at the age of sixty-nine.