E. Rosa Sawtell

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E. Rosa Sawtell was Elizabeth Rosa Sawtell (born Budden), a New Zealand painter who lived from 1865 to 1940. She worked mainly in watercolors and pencil drawings, creating landscapes, portraits, and plein-air studies.

Early life and education
- Born 6 September 1865 in Christchurch, New Zealand.
- Studied at the Canterbury School of Art (now Ilam School of Fine Arts) and was a foundation student in 1881.
- Exhibited with the Centre of Contemporary Art from 1882 to 1893 under the name E. Rosa Budden.
- Won a silver medal in 1888 for a landscape study from nature.

Career
- From 1894 she used the name E. Rosa Sawtell after marrying Claude Sawtell.
- Exhibited with the Auckland Society of Arts, the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, and the Otago Art Society.
- Member of The Group, an informal Christchurch artists’ association; contributed to exhibitions in 1935, 1936, and posthumously in 1947.
- Her works were shown at the London British Empire Exhibition in 1924 and at the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin in 1925–1926 (as Mrs Claude Sawtell).
- In the 1890s she was a prominent member of the Palette Club, which promoted plein-air painting.
- In the 1920s she served as secretary for the Society for Imperial Culture.
- Notable works include On the Outskirts of Barton’s Bush, Heretaunga; Reminiscences; and The Clay Road.

Personal life
- Married Claude Ernest White Sawtell on 9 January 1894 in Sumner. Claude’s father, Henry Sawtell, was a former mayor of Christchurch.
- Claude Sawtell died in 1917.
- Rosa Sawtell died on 20 September 1940 at her home in Merivale, Christchurch, after a long illness. They are buried in Linwood Cemetery.

Legacy
- Sawtell’s paintings captured New Zealand landscapes and people, often painted in watercolors and pencil, contributing to New Zealand’s art scene in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.