Sun Visor

A curved brim of cream, translucent plastic or celluloid attached to a piece of pale blue patterned cotton fabric which covers the crown of the wearer's head. The fabric extends into widths to tie at the back to hold it in place. The cotton fabric is printed with a small blue, red and white flowerlike motif. All edges are trimmed with a dark blue bias tape. There are no manufacture labels present.

The accompanying Overview in the catalogue entry, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand (https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/2412004) reads, "This distinctive and fashionable sun visor belonged to the artist Flora Scales. She wore it when painting outdoors ('en plein air')...

Alongside this sun visor, Te Papa also holds Flora Scales’ artist smock, paint box and easel (GH018017, CA000215). These objects are unusual everyday survivals, offering a fascinating glimpse into the daily work of being an artist. The high-necked smock is marked with paint and oil from brushes wiped across its cotton surface. The palette is coated in fields of dried paint, in colours familiar from Scales’ finished canvasses. The wooden box, bought from a top Paris art supplier, is full of half used tubes of oil paint (cadmium red, burnt sienna, viridian green) and fat brushes. Working outside, ‘en plein air’, was key to Scales’ painting technique. Worn to protect her skin and eyes from sun and paint, this visor is a wonderful record of her ways of working."