THE OF THE MAORI

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 48, 25 August 1930, Page 7

THE OF THE MAORI

STYLE AND MENTALITY

A PSYCHOLOGIST'S STUDY

"Much has bven written on Maori art and many things said in praise of it," stated Dr. I. L. G. Sutherland, of Victoria University College, in the course of a W.E.A. lceture on Saturday, night on "The Psychology of Maori Art," "and it has impressed observers ever since 1827, when Mr. r Earle, aa artist visiting New Zealand, praised Maori arts and. crafts enthusiastically. Yet it cannot be said that Maori art has as yet been fully studied or satisfactorily analysed, and there are widely current concerning it general superficial assumptions which are certainly mistaken. A recent writer on Maori art expressed the opinion that the Maori loved to exercise his skill in carvings and in the ornamentation of his wooden houses and other buildings. His main intention in the first instance was probably to represent the human, figure as nearly as his skill would allow him, but lack of skill may have tended to alter the character of such designs." Dr. Sutherland considered that his main idea was to make a certain formal design of the human figure which would carry with it a rnoauin"- explicable in terms of his culture, mythology, etc., and it was not lack of skill but stylistic tradition and the desire to make a satisfying form to fill a certain s"°"o which resulted in a transformation of the human figure w.v?eh we too readily dismiss as grotesque. It is wrong to assume that peoples whose material culture is "'• —''fir than our n"" 1 """ "°cessarily of inferior mentality. Primitives are ourselves in other historical and geographical cireumstanees, their different patterns of thinking, feeling, and believing being the inward imaging of their forms of culture and institutions. Wo should think not of minds, as being inherently inferior or superior, but of cultures as being different, and of institutions and traditions impressing themselves on minds and creating their different patternings.Ifc was not because ho could not carve a simple representation of the human figure that the Maori carved his typical forms.

The Maori people and their culture present very complex problems to the ethnologist, continued the speaker, and it cannot be claimed that they have as yet been solved. Their art can only be understood in relation to their life and culture as a whole, also the element of meaning conveyed in its various forms. It is a mistake to suppose that the general style of Maori art is entirely confined to New Zealand . and has been developed locally. The spiral form so freely used by Native artists was not suggested by the curling young fern frond, but can be traced back in locality and time through the Pacific, the Malay Archipelago, India, Persia, and the IJastern Mediterranean to Egypt. Mr. H. S. Skinner, of Otago University, traced their history several years ago. In spite of its close relationship to Polynesian art, which is confined to straight lines and makes hardly any use of the human figure, Maori art is quite different and uses both the spiral and the human figure freely, generally getting its best effect through their use. The ancestors of the Maori were' no doubt acquainted with metals, and a stone implement of unusual shape found in New Zealand is allied to stone forms in South Eastern. Asia, which, were themselves copies or> ■metal originals. Regarding local elaborations, the newen vironment in these islands led to certain changes in their mode of life, and these in turn gave new opportunities for the decorative artist. The cooler climate here necessitated more substantial houses, and much of the best Maori carving is associated with the decoration of their houses. This also included woven panels and elaborate and beautiful rafter patterns. Dr. Buck has shown that the development in clothing and its decoration took place in New Zealand to meet the needs of a cooler climate, and no doubt the abundance of fine hard-woods found in this country would account in some measure for the remarkable development in wood-carving also. INFLUENCE OF TRIBAL WARFARE Dr. Sutherland referred to the intertribal warfare of the Natives, which was their regular summer pastime and supplied a powerful motive in Maori life and work. It was not very destructive until the coming of the white man, and the ceremonies conneetod with it and with inter-tribal visiting and the exchange of valuable objects afforded great scope for the exercise of many types of .Maori art, on which much time and labour were expended. Throughout the hundreds of years bhat they were established hero before the advent of the white man, the artistic impulses of the Maori people added beauty to usefulness, and there was scarcely an object which was not given its characteristic decoration. Even the bird-snares were beautifully and carefuly carved, while the Maori decorated his house, his canoe, his weapons, his domestic articles, his garments, and himself! Sometimes usefulness was sacrificed to decoration, and this applied to such highly valued objects as weapons. The lecturer mentioned the various articles that were treated in this way, and pointed out that Maori art forms were limited by the tools and materials available. The Maori artist had a yery eompleto mastery over both, and it is hard to realise that all his elaborato carvings- wero executed with stona tools. Maori art was a feature of » living culture, and one result of th» impact with European civilisation wa» the disintegration of tho Maori mini as such. PSYCHOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE Passing on to a study of the psy« chological factors that influenced the Maori artist at his work, Dr. Suther* ianfl dealt with the tradition of stylo which limited tho artist to a ccrtaifc exeut tho content or meaning, whici related to tlio history, mythology, and customs of the race and had a deep significance, symbolising sonic human act or emotion; and the form which was governed to some extent by tho space to bo filled or the object to be decorated. Here the ability of tho artist is evidenced, using his content, tho meaning and the human figure to fuse it with his senso of form into a satisfying whole. The lecturer concluded a most interesting address by reading some fino examples of Maori poetry, in which the lyrical beauty and the emotional quality were admirably blended, and tho latter part of tho evening was devoted to the showing of many beautiful lantern slides.

The. subject of next Saturday's lecture will bo "Modern Tendencies in Art."