Dominion Museum Notes

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 261, 31 July 1937, Page 2 (Supplement)

Dominion Museum Notes

CARVING—A MAORI ART Artistry and Craftsmanship Were Hallmarks of Maori Culture Grotesque goblin figures standing guard over the gables and eves and portals of Maori whares in old-time villages. Hideous faces with leering eyes and lolling tongues decorating the prows of dug-out war canoes, and the delicate, artistic tracery of their tall, patterned sternposts. Old weather-beaten carved gate-posts standing forlorn in the forest, relics of forgotten fighting pas, portions of long-vanished palisades. Delicate polished pendants of native greenstone, lovely things given to brown tamahines to wear as talismans. .Such were the carvings of the Maori, material evidences of an art that stamped his culture as immeasurably higher than that of any other savage race. You can see them still, in whares in the Urewera and in Taranaki, and right here in Wellington in the wonderful carved house that is a prized exhibit in the Dominion Museum. ,

The Maori story of the origin of carving is that it commenced in the distant past. Away in times remote beyond expression there lived a great chief named Rua. One day the thought came to him to visit the sea-god Tangaroa, the Polynesian neptune. So Rua went to the house of Tangaroa and found him highly pleased with the appearance of his house, which, he asserted, bad been adorned with carved figures by Hura-Waikato; but Rua was much astonished to find that the wondrous carvings of Hura were not carvings at all, but simply painted patterns. Then Rua asked: “Is this your famous carving?” Tangaroa replied: “Yes, this is the carving.” Rua said: “Just you come to my place and see what real carving is,” for Rua was the father of the art of carving. The house of Rua was truly a brave sight, so adorned was it with carvings and so fine were the figures. On a certain day Tangaroa set forth to visit it. As he approched the house, and while yet some distance off, he observed the carved human figure which adorned the front of the house; he greeted the figure with the words: “Tena ra koe!” (Salutations to you) ; and then, walking up to it, he proceeded to salute it with the hongi according to custom. For he thought that this beautiful figure was a living man, so fine was the carving of Rua; but then Rua laughed at the discomfiture of Tangaroa.

Ths story, first translated by the late Mr. Elsdon Best, has many variations in many lands; but it seems fairly certain that the origins of Maori carving do belong to a remote period in the history of the race. Basic patterns m Maori carving are found also in many other parts of the Pacific; and a . development of certain of their designs seems to have taken place on the Pacific coast of South America. However, Maori carving as we know it to-day, belongs wholly to New Zealand; and much of it seems to have developed here. Development of the Art.

Coming to a new land and finding trees that could be cut with their stone tools, and wood of a durable nature, it is probable that many designs which had in a former homeland been painted, now would be carved. Veneration for ancestors, mythical or otherwise, would readily lead to the fashioning of wooden carvings to perpetuate their memory. Ritual would surround the work as it did other Maori activities; and schools of carvers would gradually develop, becoming more specialised with each generation. Beauty lies in the carver’s skill to conceal his art. We are told that when a craftsman wished to execute a carving requiring some skill, he went away by himself for a period consisting of days or weeks. He worked out in his mind every detail of’ the proposed work; and not until he had a perfect mental vision of the task to bo undertaken, did he return again to dwell with his people. Many times as we dwell on old-time carvings we are puzzled to determine just what was in the mind of the oldtime carver, or tohunga whakairo, as he was called. It seems that one object which he achieved very successfully was to produce a work of such excellence that no other carver seeing it for

just a short period would be able to form a clear mental vision of it and make a copy. Decorative Forms.

No race that has ever lived has treated the spiral decoration in the manner in which it has evolved in Maori art. The conservative carver did uot go outside his ancestral art for designs. He loved curves and found them in spiral motive. There are at least six different ways of rendering the spiral in Maori carving, and several forms of basic decoration as well.

One of the most common decorative forms is rauponga, which consists of two or three lines running parallel to a notched ridge. Another type seen mostly on pataka or food storehouses is called taoweru. Few living beings other than man appear in Maori carved articles. On pataka barge-boards I we see a figure of a whale or papake being hauled upwards by human or semi-human figures. A bird-like being : called a manaia en- ' tered much into Ma- ; ori carving of old ; times. Sometimes these manaia, ’ which are friendly ' to man, assisted in hauling the whale

carved on the barge-boards. Sometimes they face outwards at the ends of carvings as if protecting the whole. Serpentine carvings are rare, yet they exist here and there. The Maori regarded the eel as the origin of sin. Lizards were much feared. They are not common in carving, but are never distorted as are all other animals and ancestral figures. Around the walls Inside the large houses carved slabs are placed at intervals to act as supports to the rafters. These carved slabs usually denote the ancestors of the tribe, and, when the old Maoris first learned to read and write, they often carved the name of the ancestor on their carvings. The facing boards of the house are called maihl, and the supports are amo. The Maoris were a maritime race; so it is quite natural that some of their finest artistic carving work should appear on their large canoes, as used for war and voyaging. The large carved prow, with out-thrust tongue, and the high stern, with its beautiful scroll carvings and waving feather plumes, set off the canoes in a way that no other ornamentation could have done. Carved top sides deepened the hull and enlarged the vessel. All appealed greatly to the heart of the ancient Maori. There must be no mistakes in the carving and all must be .perfectly fitted together. The canoe was regarded as the property of the chief of the tribe and was his most precious possession.