John Moore

Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1897, d.1965

Woodcuts by John L Moore

1930s-1950s
Woodcuts
Purchased 2024
205 x 205 x 38mm
2024/116

Tags: animals, birds (animals), flowers (plants), glaciers (bodies of water), lakes (bodies of water), Māori (culture or style), mountains, trees, volcanoes, waterfalls (natural bodies of water), words

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Four items from this album were exhibited in 'Bird Land: Te Kāhui Manu' with these labels:

Pied Tit / Miromiro South Island Robin / Kakaruai North Island Robin / Toutouwa

‘He kanohi hōmiromiro’—which translates to ‘the eyes of a miromiro’—is an expression used of someone sharp-sighted enough to notice the smallest details. John L. Moore’s tiny woodcuts reward such attentive looking. With a few deft cuts of the block, he captures the alert, watchful character of these small forest birds. The artist’s powers of observation find an echo in the birds’ attentive gaze, each tiny portrait rendered with remarkable economy and character.

Pied Shags Building

Pied Shags Building reflects John L. Moore’s ability to observe and depict birds with a remarkable economy of means. Following service overseas with the New Zealand Medical Corps during World War I, Moore studied art in Wellington, London and Rome. He produced a substantial series of woodcuts in the 1930s devoted to native flora and fauna.

(Bird Land: Te Kāhui Manu 15 August 2026 – 8 February 2027)

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