Fay and Jane Birkinshaw 1938

Editor: So, this is "Fay and Jane Birkinshaw," a 1938 painting by Rita Angus, housed at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. What strikes me is the almost unnerving stillness of it. The girls' gazes are so direct, and the whole scene feels deliberately posed. What do you see when you look at it? Curator: Oh, unsettling stillness is a good way to put it! Angus had this way of rendering reality, but slightly... off-kilter. These girls, perched amidst their toys – is it a charming domestic scene or something a little more unsettling, a commentary maybe? Those wide, unflinching eyes. They follow you, don't they? Do you think this hints about childhood or something more profound? Editor: Definitely follow you. I see those wide eyes, and I think of childhood’s directness but also childhood’s confinement in expectations, in this genre-painting expectation for girls. There is also such a difference in color vibrancy from them, their clothing, to the background toys behind. It feels very deliberate. Curator: Absolutely deliberate! Rita was incredibly thoughtful about composition, about color, light. And that disconnect is intentional! The carefully chosen outfits, almost mirroring each other, against the...well, a tiny unsettling tableau behind. Those toys seem a lot less innocent now you mention the framing of the dolls. So maybe the expectations of girlhood and those looming, slightly gothic toy figures is what is “real” behind their young lives? Does knowing it was painted in 1938 change how we view it at all? Does that pre-war anxiety seep in a bit, too? Editor: I didn't initially consider the historical context, but it does lend another layer! All that's happened and all the world chaos about to descend as this painting freezes two children in place with an unnatural framing. It seems a lot less cute! Curator: See, it’s like we’re detectives piecing things together here! Looking at that moment between childhood innocence and some unknown fate for us all is interesting. Now I don't feel so bad when I frame and hold gazes unnaturally myself! It is more normal than it seems.