Lyndon Smith, Master Craftsman, Sculptor

At the Pukeahu National War Memorial in central Wellington, Te Upoko o Te Ika (The Head of the Fish of Maui) or Te Whanganui a Tara (the Harbour of Tara) there is a beautiful sculpture.

It is a mother and child, and it sits in the sanctuary of the Hall of Memories. It is by Lyndon Smith, and it is always remarked upon by visitors. I was pretty sure given it’s date (it was installed in the Hall in 1964) that the sculptor had been influenced by Henry Moore, an English sculptor who had visited Aotearoa New Zealand in the 1950s. I was right, but Lyndon had other influences and foundations to his amazing work, which we now know much more about, having found a catalogue from an exhibition put on by his community the year he died, 2003.

The exhibition was at the wonderful NorthArt Community Arts Centre in the Northcote Shopping Centre on the North Shore of Auckland. I grew up going there but never knew a work of Lyndon’s was commissioned for the sculptural court in 1971.

Lyndon was an Elam School of Fine Arts Graduate; he exhibited with the likes of Molly Macalister (who has a similarly beautiful work of a father and baby tucked around the harbour side of the Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington Hunter Building) and Alison Duff. Anne Severs was also an influence for Lyndon, and Alan Ingham, who had been an assistant to Henry Moore was also in Auckland in the mid 1950s.

Please note the catalogue text reflects a pretty Pākehā-centric world view, saying there was ‘…no real tradition of sculpture here…’ when Lyndon started out.

I’ve scanned the pages here to share, and look forward to learning more about this amazing artist.