Art on Sunday! We have new listings going LIVE tonight: two framed drawings by Trevor Moffitt, one of NZs leading narrative painters. The drawings are from a series Moffitt drew based on the story of Stanley Graham, the notorious perpetrator of NZ’s first mass murder. Both works have been expertly framed by our friends at Ronald Mottram Picture Framers.
Trevor Moffitt (1936–2006)
Moffitt graduated from the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts in 1959. Moffitt was New Zealand’s leading narrative painters. Moffitt’s expressionist paintings reveal the lives and stories of ordinary working people and strike a familiar note with every New Zealander.
These drawings are from a series based on the story of Stanley Graham, the perpetrator of NZ’s first mass murder. On 8 October 1941, Eric Stanley Graham killed three police officers and fatally wounded a fourth at his farm near Hokitika. He later killed an agricultural instructor and two Home Guardsmen.
A massive manhunt ended on 20 October when Graham was shot on sight by Constable James Quirke. A massive manhunt ended on 20 October when Graham was shot on sight by Constable James Quirke, as depicted in this sketch.