The Maori in European Art

Bell, Leonard. The Maori in European Art. A.H & A.W REED LTD, 1980

• The main point that I got from the book was that in the early times of settlements Maori were depicted a lot but as dark Europeans – their features weren’t shown in likeness.

• “In art, the Maori often seemed little more than a darkened Pakeha, and as such, an intrusion in a romantically conceived ‘wild’ realm.” 1

• “European pictures of the Maoris raise some obvious questions. For instance, to what extent are they ‘realistic’? That is, to what degree do the pictures present Maori people as they actually were or are, physically, psychologically and socially?” 2

• “seen as visualisations of the ‘noble savage’ concept that was in vogue in the eighteenth century.” 10

• “In most of these early pictures, the difference and uniqueness of the Maori was established by the description, not necessarily accurate, of dress, ornaments, weaponry and moko.” 12

• “There are transactions between Maori and Europeans in Webber’s work, but they are relatively simple, even if the implications for the future were unwittingly enormous: there is one drawing by Webber of Cook offering a Maori a bead necklace.” 14

• “After the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, and with the beginnings of colonisation and planned settlement of Europeans in New Zealand, the output of pictures featuringor including the Maori increased considerably.” 30

• “There is, too, the drawing by Webber of Captain Cook offering beads to a Maori.” 47

• “The bringing of Christianity to colonised peoples was seen as an important means of control for the colonising power. It was an essential requirement, so it was popularly believed, for the ‘spread of civilisation’.” 49

• “Although the European artists have continued to paint and draw the Maori since World War two, there has been an overall decline in the number of paintings produced by serious and major artists, compared to the period from 1900-1940.” 126

• “A decline in the number of paintings depicting Maoris does not, however, indicate a loss or lack of interest in Maori culture and society among European Artists.” 126

• “McCahon interweaves Maori and European element in an attempt, perhaps, to bridge the two cultures.” 132

• “McCahon has not been alone in his fusion of things Maori with modernist European methods and styles in painting.” 132