Untitled (organic form, black on grey)

item details

NameUntitled (organic form, black on grey)

ProductionGordon Walters; photographer; 1943-1944; Waikanae

Classificationblack-and-white prints, gelatin silver prints, black-and-white photographs, works of art

Materialsphotographic gelatin, silver, photographic paper

Materials Summaryblack and white photograph, gelatin silver print

Techniquesmetallic toning, black-and-white photography

DimensionsImage: 185mm (height), 155mm (length)

Registration NumberO.027006

Credit linePurchased 2001

Overview

This black and white photograph by Gordon Walters was made in the early 1940s at Waikanae. Walters was living and working in Wellington and had met Theo Schoon, an Indonesian-born Dutch artist who was familiar both with photography and modern European art. The photograph was one of a series taken by Walters and Schoon on field trips to Waikanae in 1943 and 1944. The title, with its reference to 'organic form' and tonal values ('black on grey') reveals how nature could be transformed through the camera lens into almost abstract patterns.

The patterns of nature
Both Walters and Schoon were interested in patterns found in nature. Driven by surrealism, which delights in chance and spontaneous similarities between diverse objects, and modern art's interest in the natural and organic, Walters and Schoon made many studies of plants and rocks. Walters then used some of these as the basis for a series of conte (chalk) drawings in which sand, stones, and beach became unsettling surrealist images. Untitled (organic form, black on grey) has it both ways. It is an organic abstract pattern and a slightly disturbing tangle of vines that crowd the sky.

Painting and photography
While Walters is best known as a painter, his photography was an important part of his artistic activity that wasn't often publicly displayed. Following landscape studies such as Untitled (organic form, black on grey), Walters continued to photograph subjects relevant to his paintings, most notably a long running series of images of Māori art, especially kōwhaiwhai (visual art), and wharenui (meeting house) from around New Zealand.

As well as a collection of paintings, Te Papa holds the Gordon Walters archive.