Francis Pound On Gordon Walters

Overview

There is an element of mystery surrounding the artistic career of Gordon Walters. Many people would connect his name with only one type of painting: the koru motif works on which his reputation rests, but few would know anything about his stylistic evolution. Yet when Walters first exhibited his distinctive works in Auckland in 1966 he was no young painter having his first show, nor was he a late starter turning to painting mid-career. He was forty-six and had been painting seriously for twenty-six years. Surprisingly, there has been little curiosity about this phenomenon, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for an artist to emerge fully mature and unheralded.

The collection of works by Walters throughout his career has him marked as one of the most iconic and influential modern artists in New Zealand history. Collectively, his pieces form one of the most important groups of paintings produced in this country since the war.

Art historian, lecturer and writer Francis Pound has written extensively on the work of Walters. To complement the current exhibition, Pound will be speaking about the body of work at the Auckland Art Gallery this Sunday.