Margaret Stoddart was born in Diamond Harbour, Canterbury, New Zealand in 1865 and studied at the Canterbury College School of Art, becoming skilful in botanic illustrations of native species. In 1898 she left for England and settled in the artists' colony of St Ives, Cornwall; among a group of painters who liked to work outside, 'en plein air', her focus shifted gradually from flower paintings to landscape and she developed an atmospheric and more tonal painting style. In 1906 she returned to New Zealand, where she established herself as one of the country's most important impressionist painters.
Painter Margaret Stoddart was born on 3 October 1865 in Diamond Harbour, Canterbury, New Zealand. Her mother was from Norway and her father, originally from Scotland, had settled in New Zealand after 14 years of farming in Australia. When Stoddart was a child, it was he who first fostered her interest in nature and art. The family moved back to Scotland in 1876, where Stoddart briefly attended Edinburgh Ladies' College; they returned to New Zealand after three years and settled in Christchurch. From 1882–90 Stoddart studied under Alfred Walsh at Canterbury College School of Art, where classes emphasised close observation of nature. During this time, Stoddart became skilled in botanical illustrations of native species, producing faithful and elaborate studies of flowers and plants. Both locally and in England, there was a keen interest in the indigenous plants of New Zealand and, when she was only 21, four of Stoddart's works were accepted for the London Colonial and Indian Exhibition in 1896. At the time, flowers and still lifes were seen as the realm of women artists, while the depiction of landscapes was regarded as masculine subjectmatter. Ignoring these conventions, Stoddart travelled as far as the Chatham Islands in 1896, where she produced several studies and finished landscape pieces.
Stoddart had been in touch with a network of women artists, some of whom had left for Australia or England and, in 1898, she also decided to face the challenge and sailed for England. Upon her arrival, she made contact with Australian artist, Dora Meeson, who was living in London. In 1898 Stoddart contributed one work to the Royal Birmingham Society of Arts show. She subsequently based herself in the artists’ colony of St. Ives, Cornwall, among a group of painters who liked to work outdoor, en plein air. Stoddart was possibly the first New Zealander to paint there (King 1997, p. 69). During the summers she made trips to France, Switzerland, Italy and other parts of Britain. In St. Ives, she took lessons from Louis Grier and Norman Garstin. Her art changed dramatically during her British period. She developed an atmospheric and more tonal painting style, and her brush strokes became looser and more vigorous. In St. Ives her focus shifted gradually from flower paintings to landscape and her work, mainly in watercolour, included many of the characteristic subjects favoured in British Impressionism, such as harbour scenes, orchards in blossom and a range of rural and seasonal themes. Fellow New Zealand artists who joined her in Cornwall were Frances Hodgkins and Dorothy Kate Richmond. Stoddart later recalled 'I think there is no place like Cornwall […] you have the most magnificent sea coasts and bleak mining country, which almost reminds one of parts of New Zealand, except for the ruined smokestacks. In some districts the aspect of the country is like a garden in spring' (as cited in Wild 2018, p. 9).
In 1902, together with other New Zealand women artists including Hodgkins, Richmond and Grace Joel, Stoddart was invited to exhibit at the Bayswater Gallery in London. In 1906 she participated in a group show of New Zealand artists at the Baillie Gallery, London. Her landscapes were singled out in the Sunday Times, which compared her free technique with that of such masters as Robert Allan and E. A. Waterlow. The review also noted that ‘She only needs to add [...] the sunny impressionism of Arthur Melville to go very far indeed, and in her best work there is promise that these further achievements are within her essential gifts’ (Sunday Times 1906, p. 6). In 1906 her painting A Capri Garden was included in the Royal Academy of Arts annual exhibition. Stoddart also exhibited with the Institute of Painters in Watercolour, and the Royal Society of British Artists. However, she struggled to find enough commercial opportunities in England. The gallery system in London set insurmountable obstacles for many talented artists and, being a colonial and a woman, made it even more difficult to overcome them.
In 1906 Stoddart returned to New Zealand, settling first at Diamond Harbour and, following the death of her mother, in Christchurch. Stoddart’s ‘modern style’ was considered radical for the time and initially provoked some harsh criticism, but she was determined to continue painting in the impressionistic style she had learned abroad. She was a member of the School of Art Sketch Club, the National Art Association of New Zealand and the Canterbury Women's Club, as well as serving as vice president of the Canterbury Society of Arts and the Society for Imperial Culture. By the end of her career, she had paintings shown in over 175 exhibitions, in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, including in the British Empire Exhibitions held at Wembley in 1924 and 1925. Margaret Stoddart died in Hanmer Springs, New Zealand on 10 December 1934. Currently there are no UK public institutions holding her works.