Para Matchitt's vision of the haka!

When I was a child my mother took me to an exhibition of Paratene Matchitt's artwork in Hamilton and I have followed his career ever since. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki recently acquired at auction an early painting by Para titled Au Au Aue Hāa! It is one of the first contemporary painted representations of haka.

Hamish Keith confirmed that he had worked with both Peter Tomory and Colin McCahon on the New Zealand Painting 1962 exhibition, in which this painting was included as catalogue number 52. It was likely that Hamish was responsible for alerting Peter and Colin to Para's talent.

I phoned Para and he recalled in a flash that this painting was shown publicly for the first time at this Gallery – a few months after he had completed it on Sunday 9 September 1962.

When I first saw the painting I did not know its correct title and the painting has no inscriptions on the back of the original frame. I accessed the artist's file in the E.H. McCormick Research Library and recalled that I had assembled useful information about Para's early work. I re-read Rangihiroa Panoho's MA thesis on the artist that is held in the Library.

In  Para's file there is a black and white photograph of this painting, that I sourced from the New Zealand Herald long ago when I did not know the work's whereabouts. I had written onto the photo's mount card this commentary from the Herald of 23 September 1964:
   
A painting by the Hamilton artist, Para Matchitt, showing how traditional Maori art forms can be applied by a modern artist to produce powerful symbolic effect – in this case the vigour and ferocity of the haka. The author of the accompanying article considers Para Matchitt’s work suited to present day architectural application.
In the artist's file I found the following undated colour article from the New Zealand Women's Weekly. What a stun to see  Au Au Aue Hāa! reproduced top right and another Para Matchitt painting The Carver III  created in May 1964 and which we acquired in 2007.

Para Matchitt’s Au Au Aue Hā!!! comes from a small group of gouache paintings that interpret visual aspects of haka as it performed as dance yet traditionally depicted in whakairo. Para was one of the first artists to bring indigenous carving and dance traditions into painting.

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa holds the smaller painting Whiti te ra 1962 (675 x 430mm) which dates from 3 months earlier than Au Au Aue Hā!!! The painting's title echoes the passion filled call in the renowned haka Ko Niu Tireni (1925) written by Wiremu Rangi.

Au Au Aue Hā!!! is one of Para Matchitt’s earliest major works. The painting did not result from either a preparatory sketch or preliminary drawing, which is in line with the ways he imagined all his paintings and drawings in his mind and then drew them accordingly.

The figure in the painting is shown performing a haka with upraised hands and arms and with feet set apart. By restricting his palette to muted greys with intense tones of red and black, the painting reveals a powerful graphic presence. The figure’s naval, chest and bicep are indicated by traditional Maori designs that have been transformed in expressive gestures.

In the Women's Weekly portrait of Para seated above, he is holding his sculpture Crucifix 1964 which the Ilene and Laurence Dakin Bequest purchased for the Gallery in 2007.

[I see Auckland has the England versus All Blacks rugby match at Eden Park this weekend. I know that there will be a terrific haka performed by the men in Black just before kick-off]

Image credits:

Paratene Matchitt
born 1933 Aotearoa New Zealand
Ngāti Porou, Whakatōhea, Whānau ā Apanui
Au Au Aue Hā!!! 1962
gouache on paper
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
gift of the Ilene and Laurence Dakin Bequest, 2014

Undated clipping from the New Zealand Women's Weekly

Unknown photographer Para Matchitt circa 1965

Haymaker V2.0 and He Tangata, He Tangata

Arnold Manaaki Wilson: Pou Ihi | Pou Whenua | Pou Tangata 2014

I recently curated a tribute exhibition to Arnold Manaaki Wilson (1928–2012) entitled Arnold Manaaki Wilson: Pou Ihi | Pou Whenua | Pou Tangata.

The exhibition features sculpture and painting. Fine arts trained Wilson experimented extensively with traditional Māori imagery blending Māori aesthetics and form with European approaches to fashioning art which he produced in the early period of his art practice from 1954–1964.

Arnold Manaaki Wilson, Ode to Waikaremoana 1976

Underpinning Wilson’s art is his Tuhoe epistemology, which values the process of self-knowledge and the production of cultural understanding. With this in mind, Wilson developed an impactful yet modest body of work shaped by his upbringing, the wisdom of forebears and the influences of a changing contemporary world. A correlation between his legacy and how this aligns with the way his art practice functioned more widely across all strata’s of society is a focus in the exhibition. The specificity of his making produced a discourse that helped the local development of contemporary Māori art and the universality of his practice was to communicate this experience to the world. In this way, his legacy cuts a clear pathway to the realities of contemporary art practice today.

Arnold Manaaki Wilson, He Tangata, He Tangata 1956

 Among the first group of sculptures by the artist to enter the Gallery’s collection in 1992 was his 1956 sculpture He Tangata, He Tangata.

Shane Cotton The Haymaker Series I-V 2012

He Tangata, He Tangata is the subject of a painting by Ngapuhi painter Shane Cotton in a five-part, nine-meter long painting entitled The Haymaker Series I–V. Made in 2012 during a time of reflection by Cotton who has pictured through one component of the painting a tribute to a beloved kaumatua and contemporary forebear. The series title literally refers to Wilson as someone who made the most of his opportunities while he had the chance – which he did. Philosophically the title also references a time when everything one did was important to ones survival and timing was everything.

As a mid career artist Cotton possesses canniness regarding timing and survival. He gathers to his series a collection of signature images that has brought him to this point in time. His starting point is Haymaker V2.0 in which He Tangata, He Tangata stands erect at the centre of the picture plane.

Shane Cotton, Haymaker V 2.0 2012

Painted wooden rods penetrate the body of the painted sculpture attached to these are iconic images positioned at the tips of the rods. The range of iconography include the apex of another Wilson sculpture Ringatu (1958), a backward tumbling bird, a rock skull, a manaia figure, a framed nineteen century landscape – at once perched on a plinth of Jasper Johns targets.

Arnold Manaaki Wilson, Ringatu 1958

One could say that Cotton is expanding his painting footprint to comment and reflect on several generations of contemporary art practitioners local and international while simultaneously historicising the moments he has chosen to highlight. He has mapped a terrain that supports the proposition that he too has made the most of his opportunities – and he has. We can speculate also that Haymaker V2.0 allows the artist to turn things around many times over tossing ideas to flummox and draw forward alternative ways of relating to contemporary Māori art practice today. His base point of reference regarding Haymaker V2.0 is to pay tribute to a senior Maori artist.

– Ngahiraka Mason, Indigenous Curator, Māori Art

Further reading: 

Wilson was a pioneer for contemporary art and he chronicled this part of his life in the book Te Mauri Pakeaka: A Journey Into The Third Space published in 2006.

Image credits:
Arnold Manaaki Wilson
Pou Ihi | Pou Whenua | Pou Tangata 2014
Installation view, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

Arnold Manaaki Wilson
Ode to Waikaremoana 1976
acrylic on canvas
Courtey of Wilson Estate, Auckland

Arnold Manaaki Wilson
He Tangata, He Tangata 1956
totara 
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki 
purchased 1993

Shane Cotton
The Haymaker Series I-V 2012
acrylic on linen
2400 x 9000mm
Courtesy of the artist and Michael Lett, Auckland

Shane Cotton
Haymaker V 2.0 2012
acrylic on linen
2400 x 1800mm
Courtesy of the artist and Michael Lett, Auckland

Arnold Manaaki Wilson

Ringatu 1958
kauri
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki 
purchased 1992

Encouraging Creativity through Art Making

Here in the studio at Auckland Art Gallery, I constantly ask myself these questions – how can I encourage children to be creative, to explore and experiment freely, to use their imagination, to show their individuality and to take risks, all within a programme that lasts for only 60 minutes? How can I adapt the thematic art making programmes in the studio – run alongside our Gallery sessions – to allow children to create their own ideas and responses but still within a framework that develops skills, techniques and understandings?

I’ve come up with a few ideas that seem to be working well and will no doubt continue to be modified and developed. Here’s one idea.

STORYTELLING:

Instead of starting with a story, create an artwork in which a story evolves (almost accidentally) as the artwork grows.

Create a setting

• Apply a liberal amount of colour (dye) into 3 horizontal bands inspired by Golden Cloud (Gretchen Albrecht 1974). Carefully tip the paper in different directions so the colours run together. Allow to dry. 

• Now look closely at the painting and describe the ‘setting’ created.
• What time of day, time of year does it remind you of and why?
• Does it remind you of a place you have been to before? A place you have read about or seen on TV/movies? Describe this place.

• Look closely into your painting. What can you see in the painting? 

• Can you make out some objects or shapes you recognize (e.g. trees, flowers, parts of the landscape, animals, people)? 

 The student who made this work could see something in his painting that reminded him of a bird like figure with large wings. From this idea he made the shape into a ‘phoenix rising from the fire’. He also noticed a bird shape with a beak shape which he turned into a Pukeko. He drew around these shapes with a black vivid, so other people could see what he could see. He could have added more shapes and objects if he wanted to but he decided not to. He didn’t want to over complicate it.

These ‘characters’ and this ‘setting’ formed the basis of his story.

This student could see a shape that reminded her of a monster. She added a face to this and drew around other shapes she could see, with paint. She also drew in some new shapes to add to her setting.

The children were encouraged to share what they could see with a partner. Can you see something different to your partner?

They walked around the room and looked at each other’s work, trying to identify the setting and guess the stories.

I noticed that none of the children felt threatened to make a work as it all happened ‘accidentally’ and didn’t reflect their ability (or perceived lack of ability) They enjoyed using their imagination without having too many restrictions. They took risks. They made their work their own. And they were proud of themselves!

These paintings made perfect beginnings for stories that the children could then tell or write back at school, displaying the painting alongside. It opened up opportunities for them to make comparisons, inferences, connections and draw on their prior knowledge. The activity catered well for children who might be reluctant to make up their own stories and use their imagination and gave them a great starting point for storytelling.

This idea has me inspired and I intend to develop it further, and try to think of other ways to explore and encourage creativity (in one hour!?) through art making.

I’ll keep you posted!