This painting of Mount Eden in Auckland is one of a series devoted to the subject. parents. His mother is partly Norwegian. Muru went to Northland College and got to know most of the young men who are now promising young painters in the Auckland district and further north (among them Para Matchitt, Ralph Hotere, Selwyn Wilson and Muru Walters). He went on to Ardmore Teachers' College at Papakura, and then for two years he taught in primary schools in the north, specialising in arts and crafts at Ruatahuna and Matakana Island. As a teacher, he began to find he had less and less time to paint; so he gave up teaching and for the past two years he has been doing part-time work in the evening (including private art tuition), and painting during the day. His first one-man exhibition was held a few months ago in the Ikon Gallery, Auckland. Landscapes featured prominently in this show, including views of the city—the tight-packed sea of houses as seen from Mt Eden, the mount itself with a crater made dark and fantastic—and an exploration of the Northland scenes in which his earlier years were spent. His paintings were praised for their ‘purity and precision, and the element of freshness and vigour they have brought to New Zealand art.’

Style Counts More Than Subject Matter Muru does not believe that the subject matter is the main criterion in painting. ‘It is the actual execution that counts, how much the artist can inject of his own original thought. For example, we don't remember Van Gogh