Print of Maui and Mahuika by E. Mervyn Taylor

Fine Art Print

Image size in millimetres: 480 x 610

Maui and the fire goddess, a 1956 wood engraving from renown NZ printmaker E. Mervyn Taylor. Modern print of a woodcut artwork from a series based on Maori myths and legends. The Sarjeant Gallery writes that “Taylor had been introduced to Maori mythology by his wife, Edelweiss Yeoville (Teddy) Cooke, whom he had married in Wanganui on 15 December 1937. They settled in Wellington and had a son and a daughter. Aspects of Maori life and legend became an absorbing interest, reinforced by his contact with Woods and Russell Clark. In 1952, when he was awarded the Association of New Zealand Art Societies scholarship, he chose to remain in New Zealand and spent many months at Te Kaha, on the East Coast, studying Maori life. Taylor was part of the nationalist movement in New Zealand art, which sought to capture the particular qualities of this country’s landscape and culture. He also produced watercolours depicting the regional qualities and features of various parts of New Zealand.”