Jean Horsley's work is held in the permanent collection of the Auckland City Art Gallery.
11 Facts About Jean Horsley
1.
2.
Jean Horsley returned to New Zealand due to World War II and trained as a physical therapist.
3.
Jean Horsley continued her interest in sketching and painting, taking lessons from Colin McCahon and through summer schools.
4.
Jean Horsley moved to London in 1961 for seven years, and then to New York, where she stayed for fifteen years.
5.
In 1981, Jean Horsley returned to New Zealand and settled in Auckland.
6.
Jean Horsley's paintings are abstract in style, often working in oils or watercolor.
7.
Jean Horsley was influenced heavily by the work of the abstract expressionists, especially artists whose work she was exposed to while in New York, including Philip Guston, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, and Helen Frankenthaler.
8.
Jean Horsley held a shared exhibition with Louise Henderson at the New Vision Gallery in 1966.
9.
Jean Horsley exhibited with the Rutland Group, an organisation formed by students from the Elam School of Fine Art and The Group, an informal art association from Christchurch, New Zealand, formed to provide a freer alternative to the Canterbury Society of Arts.
10.
Jean Horsley contributed works to multiple exhibitions by The Group including in: 1955; 1957; and 1960.
11.
In 1997 a retrospective exhibit of Horsley's work entitled, Seize the Day: A Tribute to Jean Horsley, was held at the Auckland City Art Gallery.