Ann Verdcourt is a New Zealand artist. She creates object art with clay.

Verdcourt was born in Bedfordshire, England, and immigrated to New Zealand with her husband in 1965. Verdcourt has been working with clay since the 1950s. Her work references many other artists and art movements, drawing from her extensive knowledge of art history. In her work one can find allusions to anything from Diego Velázquez

Diego Velázquez

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...

, Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...

, Amedeo Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani

Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...

 and Constantin Brâncuşi

Constantin Brancusi

Constantin Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris...

 to the famous earthenware depiction of the Venus of Willendorf.

In 1992 she was commissioned to produce work for the Treasures of the Underworld

Treasures of the Underworld

Treasures of the Underworld was an exhibition featured in the New Zealand pavilion of Seville Expo '92.The exhibition featured 48 works comprising a total of 399 individual pieces. It was extremely successful with over half a million visitors to New Zealand's Pavilion and the interest the works...

 exhibition that formed part of the New Zealand Pavilion at the Seville Expo '92

Seville Expo '92

The Universal Exposition of Seville took place from Monday, April 20 to Monday, October 12, 1992 on La Isla de La Cartuja , Seville, Spain. The theme for the Expo was "The Age of Discovery" and over 100 countries were represented...

. She said of her work My brief was to make something about Columbus, something that would appeal to a wide range of people and be understood without the use of words. After much hesitation and after reading a great many books, I decided the only way I could tackle the subject was by treating it as an unfolding story of the "first Voyage".

Verdcourt has work in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum and art gallery of New Zealand, located in Wellington. It is branded and commonly known as Te Papa and Our Place; "Te Papa Tongarewa" is broadly translatable as "the place of treasures of this land".The museum's principles...

, Wellington; the Auckland War Memorial Museum

Auckland War Memorial Museum

The Auckland War Memorial Museum is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history , natural history, as well as military history.The museum is also one of the most iconic Auckland buildings, constructed in the neo-classicist...

, Auckland; Te Manawa, Palmerston North; Sarjeant Gallery

Sarjeant Gallery

The Sarjeant Art Gallery is located in Queen's Park, Wanganui. The Gallery was built as the result of a bequest to the city by Henry Sarjeant in 1912, and is listed as a Category I Historic Place and has the highest possible listing under the New Zealand Historic Places Trust Act .Among its...

, Wanganui; the James Wallace Collection, Auckland; Hawke's Bay Museum, Napier; and the Dowse, Lower Hutt.

External links

• Works in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa