In 1947 Gordon Walters visited Theo Schoon in South Canterbury, where Schoon was recording Māori rock drawings. It was one of many occasions on which Walters drew inspiration from traditional Māori art. When he travelled to Europe in 1950, Walters realised that modern art had learned important lessons from the arts of the Pacific. Soon after, he began working with the koru, or fern bud, motif – a Māori decorative form used on rafter paintings, incised gourds and in tattooing. In the extraordinary series of abstract paintings that resulted, this simple formexpresses a vast range of dynamic relationships.
(Brought to Light, November 2009)

There is an audio tour available about this work.

Gift of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Wellington, 2002
Reproduced courtesy of the Gordon Walters Estate
PVA and acrylic on canvas
2002/268
1977

Collection tags

abstraction, koru (pattern), Maori, monochrome, patterns (design elements), stripes