Bill Sutton

Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1917, d.2000

Read more about this artist on Wikipedia

Murals (Waikari)

About the artist

Sutton, William Alexander (Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1917, d.2000)

Bill Sutton spent many years travelling throughout the Canterbury landscape, observing, drawing, working en plein air and attempting to understand the land he was born into and dedicated so much of his life to representing. 'Murals (Waikari)' can be seen as paying homage to the early artists of the Waitaha, Kāti Mamoe and Kāi Tahu tribes. Sutton has applied a considered distance, contextualising their pigment drawings as part of the greater, interior image of the Canterbury landscape.Sutton would again acknowledge Māori presence in the local landscape in his suite of 'Te Tihi o Kahukura' watercolours and oils during the 1970s. (March 2018)

Exhibition History

earlier labels about this work
  • Ape To Zip: Adventures in Alphabet Art, 13 May 2005 – 8 October 2006

    In the exhibition Ape to Zip this work was used for the letter X and was displayed with the following label:

    XEROPHYTE This painting shows some of the oldest drawings in New Zealand. They were made by early Maori hundreds of years ago at a rock shelter near Waikari, north of Christchurch. Beneath the rock is a carpet of dry, yellow tussock grass. This plant is a xerophyte. That means it doesn't need much water. Now there's a good word to know!