Gordon Walters

Gordon Walters

Gordon Walters, painter, printmaker and designer

Gordon Walters (1919-1995) was a part-time student at Wellington Technical College between 1935-1940, while he was employed as a commercial artist. He later taught part-time at the College in 1945.

Gordon’s iconic, and at times controversial, contribution to New Zealand culture is largely due to his synthesis of Māori and European symbols through geometric abstraction.

His investigation of the koru motif began in 1956 and, combined with hard edge modernist abstraction, formed the basis of his life’s work. Although Gordon is best known as a painter, printmaking and design were an integral part of his work.

In 1979 Gordon designed the well known NZ Film Commission logo. He is represented in all major art institutions in New Zealand, in the National Gallery, Canberra, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.

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Design by Ngataiharuru Taepa, Kaihautu Toi Māori—Director of Māori Arts

Toi Rauwhārangi
College of Creative Arts
Wellington, Aotearoa

massey