Jessie Sarah Wright (née Barraud; 3 August 1863 – 30 May 1892) was a Wellington-based New Zealand artist who exhibited at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.

Jessie Sarah Wright
c. 1860s
Born
Jessie Sarah Barraud

(1863-08-03)3 August 1863
Wellington, New Zealand
Died30 May 1892(1892-05-30) (aged 28)
Wellington, New Zealand
Resting placeBolton Street Memorial Park
RelativesCharles Decimus Barraud (father)

Biography

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Jessie Sarah Wright was born in Wellington on 3 August 1863, the third daughter of Charles Decimus Barraud, artist and pharmacist, and Sarah Barraud.[1][2][3] From 1875 to 1877, she, with some of her family, visited England, and the letters that she wrote back to New Zealand are held in Alexander Turnbull Library.[4]

In 1881, she exhibited at the Industrial Exhibition, and was awarded third place for the crayon drawing Nuggets from Coombe Hay.[5] In 1883 and 1884 she exhibited at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, of which her father was a principal founder and later president.[1][6][7][8] In 1883, she exhibited a work called Scarborough, of which a critic wrote:

"Scarborough," (No. 11) by Miss J. Barraud, is a picture that we cannot make up our minds about. There is a boldness of coloring that belongs to no school that we are acquainted with, and yet is not inharmonious, and the picture is certainly characteristic of the Yorkshire coast. We want to have another look at it ; it is either very feeble or very good ; it is certainly out of the common.[9]

On 4 May 1886, she married George Robert Nicol Wright at St Paul's Cathedral.[1][10] They lived on The Terrace, Wellington, next door to the Barraud family home and had three children, Eric, Charles and Jessie.

She died in Wellington on 30 May 1892 aged 28 and was buried in Barraud family plot in Bolton Street Memorial Park, Wellington.[1][11][12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Wright, Jessie Sarah, 1863–1892". natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  2. ^ "Birth search: registration number 1863/10690". Births, deaths & marriages online. Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Births". New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian. Vol. 18, no. 1889. 9 September 1863. p. 2. Retrieved 31 December 2023 – via PapersPast.
  4. ^ "Barraud family : Letters". natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Distribution of prizes at industrial exhibition". New Zealand Times. Vol. XXXVI, no. 6281. 30 May 1881. p. 3. Retrieved 29 December 2023 – via PapersPast.
  6. ^ Platts, Una (1980). Nineteenth century New Zealand artists : a guide & handbook. Christchurch: Avon Fine Prints Limited. p. 35.
  7. ^ Kay, Robin (1990). "'Barraud, Charles Decimus', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
  8. ^ Kay, Robin; Eden, Tony (1983). Portrait of a Century: The History of the N.Z. Academy of Fine Arts 1882–1982. Wellington: Millwood Press. p. 18. ISBN 0-908582-60-9.
  9. ^ "The Fine Arts Association". New Zealand Times. Vol. XL, no. 6822. 2 March 1883. p. 3. Retrieved 29 December 2023 – via PapersPast.
  10. ^ "Marriages". New Zealand Times. Vol. XLVI, no. 7775. 6 May 1886. p. 2. Retrieved 29 December 2023 – via PapersPast.
  11. ^ "Details for Wright, Jessie Sarah". The Friends of Bolton Street Cemetery Inc. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  12. ^ "Deaths". New Zealand Mail. No. 1057. 2 June 1892. p. 22. Retrieved 31 December 2023 – via PapersPast.
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