Case 16 - Male Illustrators

R.A. Falla. Some New Zealand birds. Illustrated by E. Mervyn Taylor. Wellington: Price Milburn, 1960.

R.A. Falla. Some New Zealand birds. Illustrated by E. Mervyn Taylor. Wellington: Price Milburn, 1960.

This little book of birds by the ornithologist R.A. Falla (1901-79) was first issued as a primary school bulletin in 1949. The illustrations are by Ernest Mervyn Taylor (1906-64), who is best known as a wood engraver, but also worked as a publisher and commercial artist.

As a practitioner of wood-engraving, Taylor saw its merits for illustration and adopted it as a regular form of expression in his work. Taylor was part of the nationalist movement in New Zealand art which sought to capture the particular qualities of the country’s landscape and culture.

R.A. Falla. Some New Zealand birds. Illustrated by E. Mervyn Taylor. Wellington: Price Milburn, 1960.

R.A. Falla. Some New Zealand birds. Illustrated by E. Mervyn Taylor. Wellington: Price Milburn, 1960.
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R.A. Falla. Some New Zealand birds. Illustrated by E. Mervyn Taylor. Wellington: Price Milburn, 1960.

R.A. Falla. Some New Zealand birds. Illustrated by E. Mervyn Taylor. Wellington: Price Milburn, 1960.

This little book of birds by the ornithologist R.A. Falla (1901-79) was first issued as a primary school bulletin in 1949. The illustrations are by Ernest Mervyn Taylor (1906-64), who is best known as a wood engraver, but also worked as a publisher and commercial artist.

As a practitioner of wood-engraving, Taylor saw its merits for illustration and adopted it as a regular form of expression in his work. Taylor was part of the nationalist movement in New Zealand art which sought to capture the particular qualities of the country’s landscape and culture.

R.A. Falla. Some New Zealand birds. Illustrated by E. Mervyn Taylor. Wellington: Price Milburn, 1960.

R.A. Falla. Some New Zealand birds. Illustrated by E. Mervyn Taylor. Wellington: Price Milburn, 1960.
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Damian Skinner. Don Binney: ngā manu/ngā motu - birds/islands. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2003.

Damian Skinner. Don Binney: ngā manu/ngā motu - birds/islands. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2003.

Don Binney (1940-2012) was an artist from Auckland, best known for his instantly recognisable paintings of bird and landscape in strong lines and splendid colours. His confident, celebratory paintings first appeared in the 1960s and captured the mood of the times, seeming to express a distinctive New Zealand identity.

The painting depicted on the cover of this biographical reappraisal is Over Black Rock, Te Henga, 1966.

Damian Skinner. Don Binney: ngā manu/ngā motu - birds/islands. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2003.

Damian Skinner. Don Binney: ngā manu/ngā motu - birds/islands. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2003.
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