Artist Don Binney has died of a heart attack, aged 72.
A professional artist, lecturer and writer on the arts, Don Binney was known for his distinctive paintings featuring large, perfectly centred native birds poised over landscapes.
He was a committed ornithologist and his conservationist views were made apparent in many of his paintings, notably Last Flight of the Kokako which was used in environmental protest movements.
Binney's works first appeared in the 1960s and were held in almost all major collections in New Zealand as well as private collections in Britain, Australia, Canada, and the United States.
He was awarded an OBE in 1995 for services to the arts.
Barbara Speedy, his agent over the past decade, says it was an honour to represent someone who was such an icon in both the New Zealand art and environmental scenes.
"I think he would like to be remembered and will be remembered as an artist who crossed boundaries, who connected with people through art and who made them treasure their own landscape and flora and fauna."
Don Binney is survived by his wife Philippa and daughter Mary.
