WALTERS, Gordon, 1919-1995
Painting No. 2 (Painting)
Variations of the curving stem and bulb form of
the koru made their earliest appearances in
Gordon Walters’ work in the mid-1950s. Joining
the Government Printing Office in Wellington in 1954, he prepared gouache studies after work
and at weekends. A decade earlier, Dutch
Indonesian artist Theo Schoon (1915-1985) had
introduced him to Ngai Tahu rock art and invited
him to South Canterbury to view the drawings in
Weka Pass. What he saw there inspired the later
Mäori designs in Walters’ work.
