View towards Mount Richmond, Toss Woollaston

View towards Mount Richmond, Nelson, painted about 1938 by Toss Woollaston.

Toss Woollaston (1910–98) was one of the pioneers of modern art in New Zealand. His approach to landscape differed from the hard-edged, conceptual style emphasising clarity of form that is often seen as characteristic of this period. By contrast, Woollaston landscapes have an expressionistic, muddy quality.

Woollaston was influenced by his teacher at the King Edward VII Technical College in Dunedin, Robert N. Field, by Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) and the Fauves, and by the artist Flora Scales (1887–1985).