Walter Cook - 'an obsessive collector'

Early years
Walter Cook was born in 1941, the son of an artistic mother and a clergyman father. He grew up in provincial New Zealand.

Childhood visits to museums inspired Walter’s love of collecting. His well-read father introduced him to the Arts and Crafts movement and to the ideas of British designer and reformer William Morris (1834–96), who would influence him greatly.

 
The quest begins
In 1961, Walter moved to Wellington as an apprentice gardener. He spent his free time reading about art and design and exploring the inner-city second-hand shops. These would provide most of his collection over the next three decades.

A gift to the nation
Walter believes in what he calls ‘old-fashioned ideas such as the public good and collective ownership’. His decision, in 1992, to gift his collection to the people of New Zealand was in part a protest against the individualistic New Right policies of the time.

‘I suddenly felt like a stranger in a strange land … I decided that it was time for me to discard much of life’s baggage … to lighten the load and prepare for flight.’

Walter currently works as a librarian in Wellington.

Text taken from exhibition Walter Cook: A Collector's Quest 2012.