Local Focus: Walter Bakkenes' World of Wonder

A top-secret location hosts the Rotorua Museum's art collection, and among its most treasured pieces is the expansive work of Dutch painter, Walter Bakkenes.

Natascha Hartzuiker is the museum's art and photography curator and the guardian of Bakkenes' collection.

She said that Bakkenes, originally from Holland, ended up in Rotorua in 1952 after having escaped not one, but two concentration camps in Europe after he was detained for being "anti-German" and a "different thinker".

A chance encounter while travelling in Europe secured the Bay of Plenty as his home.

"This priest got them in touch with Theo Schoon of all people, who was another quite prominent artist in NZ- so that was the connection with NZ and Rotorua," Hartzuiker said.

Bakkenes also made his mark on the museum's collection as a member of the Rotorua Arts Society. Hatzuiker explained: "He was part of the start of our collection as well, and now he continues on with a very large collection that goes on to influence or maybe inspire other people... They were the founding collection of our collection." The Art Society originally donated 52 works to the musuem.

The number of works in Bakkenes' own archive stretches into the hundreds and is the museum's largest single collection. Hartzuiker's dedicated years to it.

"I'm still going through quite a lot of his ephemera; we're now into year eight of cataloguing it... There's 260 framed works, up to about 400-and-something sketches, drawings, albums, and photographs. We have a lute, musical instruments he made, so we have preliminary sketches because he decorated them... We've got all his research books, we've got unfinished works on canvas. So - we're not sure how to deal with that just yet."

Three decades on from his death, Bakkenes continues to have an impact on the region's arts community, with up-and-coming artists invited to browse his works, which provides a link to home for some who view it.

"There's quite a large Dutch community in Rotorua - I don't know if people know that, but there is a Dutch club!" Hartzuiker said. "The more I learn about him, emails are coming in from Holland; people have discovered they've got a painting of Walter's and would like to know a bit more about him, especially while he painted in captivity."

Hartzuiker shares an affinity with Bakkenes when it comes to creativity, and she's on a mission to ensure his work will continue to inspire for generations to come - she hopes in "50 to 80 years, they might really appreciate this collection as a really unique example of a person's work", so Hartzuiker is working to "build his profile and get people to see that this collection has a wider benefit to the community with the eclectic nature of it."