Part of the missing mural. Picture supplied
WAIROA'S missing E. Mervyn Taylor mural is likely to play a key role in a national search for New Zealand’s mislaid art works.
In a tale directly from a mystery book, an unsuspecting Massey University student stumbled across the case of the missing artwork while researching a PhD thesis.
The Wairoa Centennial Library Mural was painted by E. Mervyn Taylor, famed painter, sculptor and illustrator, and was one of a series of 13 murals commissioned by the New Zealand Government.
The wall-sized mural hung in the Wairoa library for around four decades but has not been seen since 2002 or 2003.
The artwork was painted on wooden panels that were screwed to the wall in the stairwell at the library, and when the library was renovated and stairwell upgraded, the mural was taken down and put in storage.
The painting was completed in 1961 and depicted Maori and colonial lifestyles in the Wairoa district.
A library staff member at the time said a female family member of E. Mervyn Taylor passed through Wairoa and requested the return of the work.
However, a Taylor family spokesperson said they are unaware of such a request and no trace of the mural has been found. It is believed those involved in the return of the painting from the library to the Taylor family are no longer living, and investigations in Wairoa and by Massey University are unable to locate any records pointing to the mural’s whereabouts.
The untold and unsolved mystery was brought to light when university student Bronwyn Holloway-Smith wrote her thesis on Trans-Pacific communications and the Southern Cross Cable, New Zealand’s fibre optic umbilical and primary telecommunication link to the rest of the world.
In 1962 the New Zealand Government commissioned Taylor to render a mural marking the Tasman leg of the Commonwealth Pacific Cable (COMPAC).
A post-war honourIt was a significant honour in post-World War 2, when Commonwealth countries were anxiously strengthening communication ties. It was this mural painted to mark this cable, predecessor to the Southern Cross Cable, that the Massey PhD candidate discovered. Taylor’s Te Ika-a-Maui, the story of Maui fishing up the North Island, was in long-forgotten, faded cardboard boxes in dusty archives.
Her curiosity piqued, Miss Holloway-Smith scratched deeper and realised it was not just one painting missing, there were five, which, based on the sheer size of the artworks and the fact they were commissioned for and displayed in prominent public positions, made their disappearance all the more astonishing.
Ms Holloway-Smith said the 13 murals were executed in a dazzling array of media, including paint, ceramic tiles, sand-blasted glass and wood-carving.
“Murals in public places were an intrinsic part of Taylor’s generous creative philosophy to make art accessible to the people," she said.
“Taylor’s work provides us with a fresh perspective on New Zealand history that has not necessarily been protected, but is essential in ensuring a more accurate understanding of what we represent as a nation.”
Chance discoveryThe chance discovery by Miss Holloway-Smith has led to a full-blown mission by Massey’s College of Creative Arts to track down the 13 known murals Taylor painted between 1957 and 1964.
Of the 13, five are missing, two are hidden, or partly hidden, and six are in good condition.
Ms Holloway-Smith is asking anyone who might know of the whereabouts of the painting to come forward so they can take the Wairoa Centennial Library work off the missing list.
“The public, former building owners, people who worked in or visited the buildings, or architects and designers who have been involved in refurbishments over the years are all people who might know something about the fate of these works,” Miss Holloway-Smith said.
College of Creative Arts pro-vice-chancellor Professor Claire Robinson said a key part of Massey’s project is to raise awareness of the need to better protect and promote New Zealand’s public art heritage.
“Part of the project will be not only seeking information about the missing Taylor artworks, but to form a list of other lost works of the period and begin a register of significant works that need protection."
To capture Mr Taylor’s distinctive language of art and design, Ms Holloway-Smith is researching, cataloguing and documenting the status of each mural.
Probably the best-known works are on display at Broadcasting House in Wellington and in the Otaki Borough Council building.