LIND AUER’S MAORIS

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30919, 27 November 1965, Page 4

LIND AUER’S MAORIS

/Reviewed by A.M E]

Maori Paintings. Edited by J. C. Graham. A. H. & A. W. Reed. 117 pp.

New Zealand should be eternally grateful for the association between Gottfried Lindauer and Henry Edward Partridge his patron, for from this relationship we have gained 70 magnificent paintings which faithfully reproduce notable Maoris, and facets of Maori life, of the 1870’s, The old Austrian and German Empires contributed a great deal to early New Zealand life and names such as Sir Julius Von Haast, the first

Director of the Canterbury Museum, Andreas Reischek its first preparator, Hochstetter the geologist and Muller the explorer come to mind, but it is with Gottfried Lindauer the painter that this book is concerned.

Lindauer studied portrait painting in Vienna for seven years and completed a certain amount of religious painting in Austria and Russia before leaving for New Zealand in 1873, and it was during the following year that he first met Partridge and began what is considered to be his life’s work. Partridge was only 26 years old and of limited means when he commissioned his first portrait but thereafter, as funds permitted, he continued to commission others. The majority of the portraits were painted from life but some are from early photographs. Many superstitious Maoris strongly objected to being painted on the grounds that the making of a likeness took something from the substance of the sitter, so it is to Lindauer’s credit that he was able to encourage so .many important personages to pose for him.

Lindauer recorded the precise and exact image of his subjects and in this so meticulous accuracy lies one area of criticism often levelled at him—that his work lacks colour. But it must be remembered that the; Maoris did not have the bright chemical dyes of today and that Lindauer painted what he saw. This accuracy records implements, feathers, hair styles, clothing and ornaments and is a most useful source of information for ethnologists who require precise detail regarding moko (tattoo). The paintings became more widely known at the time of the 1904 World Fair at St. Louis where the portrait of Ana Rupene was awarded the Grand Prize. Partridge refused subsequent offers to purchase various paintings but continued to house the collection in the family home where they were available to all who wanted to see them. The manner in which they passed to the nation is interesting. Partridge and two of his daughters were in Europe at the beginning of the First World War and witnessed the suffering of the Belgian refugees. A fund for Belgian relief was opened in Auckland in 1915 and he offered his collection on the condition that £lO,OOO was raised. More than this sum was contributed and Partridge executed the deed which vested the collection in the Auckland City Council as trustees for the people of that province. Some of the paintings were damaged by a vandal in 1953, and since that time only sections of the collection have been shown.

There is perhaps one sad feature of the Lindauer portraits. They were all done soon after the end of the Maori Wars when Maori feelings were at a very low ebb. The King Movement had failed as a substitute for European government and now land was under wholesale confiscation as reparation for the war. Modem historians such as K. Sinclair and M. P. K. Sorrenson have pointed out that this loss of land was the most important factor which contributed to the decline in Maori spirit and it was the landless people who were painted by Lindauer. Thus the paintings lack the spirit and fire which we associate with the old time warriors and eyes have the downcast look of defeat.

The quality of the book is excellent and the paintings, each of which is supported by interesting historical information, are faithfully and skillfully reproduced.