Painting burned

Press, 17 May 1986, Page 2

Painting burned

A $28,000 abstract painting by a New Zealand artist, Gordon Walters, has been burned in a garden Incinerator because a car thief did not believe it was worth anything. The painting (shown above) was done in 1969 and called “Genealogy 1.” It was in a car stolen in Auckland three days ago. The police found remains of the painting after a young man told them he took the car and burned the painting because he did not believe it was worth anything. The painting was valued at $28,000 by a Wellington art dealer for

its owner, an Auckland lawyer. Mr Walters said yesterday that he hoped to paint the work again.

He felt sick when he learned that the painting had been destroyed because it represented a lot of work. After the initial shock he said he was furious that the painting had been wilfully destroyed. Mr Walters spent a few months producing the painting. If he reproduces “Genealogy 1” it will take him three or

four months. It was first sold for $2OO and was the highest valued of any of Mr Walters’ work. He said he could now sell a big painting on canvas for about $15,000. Mr Walters believes the painting was not insured as it was in transit from a gallery to a private home. The part-owner of the gallery, Mr Alastair Sims, said the destruction of the painting was a tragic loss. The painting was regarded as an early and main example of New Zealand abstract art, and one of a series of five paintings.