James Turkington (1895–1979) ranks among New Zealand’s most industrious and accomplished muralists. Born in Moira, County Down, Northern Ireland, he arrived in New Zealand in 1897 and trained at Wellington Technical College under Linley Richardson before further study at Elam.
Following wartime service, Turkington’s early professional years were spent producing large-scale billboards and cinema façades, a grounding in scale and public address that would define his career. From 1925, he taught at the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts, later serving as Senior Lecturer, while maintaining an active exhibiting presence and eventually serving as president of the Auckland Society of Arts.
From the 1930s through to the 1960s, mural work became central to his practice. Turkington executed ambitious decorative schemes for hotels, commercial interiors and civic spaces, working in painted, carved, and low-relief formats.
Turkington later pioneered laminated processes with Formica to increase durability and portability. Though many of his murals have since been lost or concealed, surviving works, including commissions for the Parnell Baths and other public sites, attest to a career devoted to embedding art within everyday life. The two works included in this sale offer a rare insight into the artist’s practice on a more intimate scale, capturing the landscape of Whangamatā with the same clarity of design and decorative assurance that defined his larger public projects.

Private Collection, Auckland