Artist of the Day, July 20, 2026 : Gordon Walter, a New Zealander painter, graphic artist (2583)

 Gordon Frederick Walters (1919 – 1995) was an artist and graphic designer who is significant to New Zealand culture due to his representation of New Zealand in his Modern Abstract artworks.

Gordon Walters was born and raised in Wellington, where he went to Miramar South School and Rongotai College. From 1935 to 1939 he studied as a commercial artist at Wellington Technical College under Frederick V. Ellis.

Walters applied to join the army during World War II but was turned down due to medical problems. He took up a job in the Ministry of Supply doing illustrations. Walters traveled to Australia in 1946 and then visited photographer and painter Theo Schoon in South Canterbury, who was photographing Māori rock art at Ōpihi River. This visit was central to Walters work as he began using Māori cultural themes in his painting. In 1950 Walters moved to Europe where he became influenced by Piet Mondrian, Victor Vasarely and Auguste Herbin. On his return to New Zealand in 1953, Walters began to fuse abstract modernism with traditional Māori art.

In the early fifties Walters' designs progressed and New Zealand shapes and ideas, in particular the Māori koru form, became important themes. His design straightened the stem of the koru in a way not seen in customary Māori contexts. Walters stated "My work is an investigation of positive/ negative relationships within a deliberately limited range of forms; the forms I use have no descriptive value in themselves and are used solely to demonstrate relations. I believe that dynamic relations are most clearly expressed by the repetition of a few simple elements."

In 1956 Walters made the initial studies for the painting that would become his first koru painting. In 1964 Walters made the first large scale (1220 x 915mm) koru painting that has survived. It was titled after the Māori spiritual leader Te Whiti-o-Rongomai (Te Āti Awa) and may also reference Te Whiti Street in Kilbirnie Wellington where Walters lived as a child.

The Walters Estate was established by the artist's wife Margaret Orbell to ensure that artworks retained by the artist during his lifetime and his archives were catalogued and cared for. The Estate is administered by lawyer and art patron Gregg Schneideman.

"Acting on behalf of the Walters Estate has been a most rewarding exercise. Following the retirement of gallerist Sue Crockford it was necessary to secure  the extensive body of Estate works in a public art gallery and appoint a competent dealer gallery to represent the Walters Estate.

"Both have been achieved with the cataloguing, housing and care of the Estate works and archive at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery ensuring the proper care of and access to the works and legacy of one of New Zealand’s greatest artists. Further, the appointment of Starkwhite has ensured the exhibition of Estate works both in New Zealand and overseas which has resulted in Walters' work not only receiving International exposure but also being placed in international art museums."
© 2026. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by The Walters Estate or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only  

 Gordon Walters

Chrysanthemum, 1944

Driftwood, 1944

Untitled, 1945

Study for South Canterbury Landscape, 1947

Untitled, 1949

Untitled, 1954

Untitled, 1954

1st study for 'Then', 1955

Untitled, 1955

Untitled, 1956

Untitled, 1956

Untitled, 1956

Untitled, 1960

Claws with Black and Red Ochre, 1960's

Black on white, 1965

Mokoia, 1965-75

Spirals,1966

Study for cover of Ascent, 1969

Untitled, 1970

Thematic Variation 1, 1973

Untitled, 1975

Untitled, 1978

Untitled, 1978-80

Untitled, 1979-80

Untitled, 1987 

Untitled, 1987

Untitled (Transparency), 1989

Untitled - Composition with Stripes and Circle, 1990

Untitled - Interlocking Forms, 1994

Untitled geometric, 1994