MAORI ART FORMS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20024, 4 September 1930, Page 22

MAORI ART FORMS.

LECTURE BY MR ARCHEY. Th© subject of .Maori art forms and their relation to other forms of art to b« found among the native races of the Pacific was dealt with in an interesting manner last night, when Mr G. E. Archey, curator of the Auckland Museum, lectured under the auspices bf the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, before a large audience. There were throe main features of Maori art, said Mr Archey. First, there was the use of the human figure; second, the bird motive, and thirdly, the uso of the interlocking spirals. Acoording to some authorities, the spirals wore a representation of the frond of a fern. Others thought they had developed from the lines of the face, aa accentuated in tattooing. Even in New Zealand there were distinct schools of art, and it was thought that, in certain instances, men were sent from one part, to another to learn new methods. When they tried to work in ordinary stone the Maoris had proved a distinct failure. They managed much better when handling greenstone, which was probably accounted by the fact that as this was carved so it was polished. There were three great groups in the Pacific, namely Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian, in which New Zealand was included. The lecturer traced the similarities to be found in each of these groups. At first glance those outside New Zealand seomiHl to bf of all rectangular pattern. Closer examination showed, however, that the origin of them all was the human body. One striking fact was that the bird rnotive was to be found in the steiTipoSfa. of the canoes in New Guinea, and also in those of the Maoris. The lecture was illustrated by a number- of interesting slides, maps, and diagrams. .