at a time when attitudes of white New Zealanders to Māori were changing. Woods and Taylor created a new iconography to represent their mythological Māori world; Woods' Māori were archetypal, strong and powerful figures that lived in a timeless idyllic land. George Woods' illustrations for A.H. Reed's Myths and Legends of Māoriland (1946) demonstrate the iconography he used. His drawings emphasise Māori facial features and lithe muscular physiques and also include moko. He includes native birds and plants to provide a distinct New Zealand context. He often adopts a heroic character for the dramatic passages of the book. In the image The Battle of the Wind and Sea Gods (c. 1946), Woods depicts sinuous tension in their muscles and frames them in turbulent clouds and waves. His drawings for this book attain a high standard in both design and execution. Woods and Taylor were the country's most prominent book illustrators in the early 20th century. Many of the prints they created as illustrations for books were included in their solo and group exhibitions. The scraper-board print Battle of the Wind and the Sea Gods (1945), won Woods the Esther Glen Award from the New Zealand Library Association for outstanding contribution to children's literature. Woods' scraper-board print Māori Navigators (c. 1940) was inspired by the Māori myth of the great fleet of canoes departed from the legendary Hawaiki on a voyage of discovery making landfall in New Zealand in 1350. His image of a canoe cresting a wave appealed to New Zealanders celebrating the centenary of the 1840 arrival of settlers' ships. The image was published as a frontispiece to A.H. Reed's The Story of New Zealand in 1945, placing it firmly in the public's imagination as an icon of nationhood. Woods also created a series of colour linocuts based on The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám; using rich colour and patterns to create the appearance of Persian miniatures. Illustrations Poppa passes: the adventures of the Vedgie people, by A.W. Reed (c. 1943) At the bottom of the garden: my own seed book, by A.W. Reed (1944) Introduction to New Zealand, by New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs (1945) Stories of fairies, by A.W. Reed (1962) A song of praise for Māoriland (filmstrip), by A.H. Reed (195?) Myths and legends of Māoriland, by A.W. Reed (1958) Building the main trunk, by New Zealand Railways Department (1960) Commissioned to illustrate the 1950 Imperial