item details
NameTawa. From the portfolio: Barry Lett Multiples
ProductionGordon Walters; artist; 1969; Auckland
Classificationworks of art, screen prints, works on paper
Materialsink, paper
Materials Summaryscreen print
Techniquesscreen printing
DimensionsImage: 417mm (width), 530mm (height)
Registration Number1990-0026-10
Credit linePurchased 1990 with Harold Beauchamp Collection funds
Overview
One motif. Thirty years of exhaustive exploration. Gordon Walters’ koru series combines a customary Māori symbol with European abstraction in seemingly endless ways.
Walters’ obsession with the koru began early. As a boy, he spent hours exploring the Māori and Pacific works at the Dominion Museum, Te Papa’s predecessor.
For Māori , the koru symbolises new life and has a special place in customary art. Its use by non-Māori artists such as Walters has been hotly debated. Even so, this series has found its own special place in the hearts and minds of many New Zealanders.