New Zealand art
It also includes photographs, sculptures, collages, models and works of art in the form of crafts, ceramics, glassware, jewellery, textiles, weaving, metalware and furniture.
[6] Māori visual art consists primarily of four forms: carving (whakairo), tattooing (tā moko), weaving (raranga), and painting (kōwhaiwhai).
[7] An example is invoking a god or atua by using a specific design on an object can make the item more effective due to the Māori world-view of natural and spiritual worlds being closely connected.
[citation needed] Most traditional Māori art was highly stylised and featured motifs such as the spiral, the chevron and the koru.
[11] Hirini Moko and Apirana Mahuika have articulated that Māori have for many generations had traditions of art history talking about 'art, its origins, and influences'.
Weaving was used to create numerous things, including wall panels in meeting houses and other important buildings, as well as clothing and bags (kete).
While many of these were purely functional, others were true works of art taking hundreds of hours to complete, and often given as gifts to important people.
In pre-European times the main medium for weaving was flax, but following the arrival of Europeans cotton, wool and other textiles were also used, especially in clothing.
Europeans introduced Māori to their more figurative style of art, and in the 19th century less stylised depictions of people and plants began to appear on the walls of meeting houses in place of traditional carvings and woven panels.
Europeans began producing art in New Zealand as soon as they arrived, with many exploration ships including an artist to record newly discovered places, people, flora and fauna.
The first European work of art made in New Zealand was a drawing by Isaac Gilsemans, the artist on Abel Tasman's expedition of 1642.
[16][17] Joseph Banks[18][19] and Sydney Parkinson of James Cook's ship Endeavour produced the first detailed depictions of Māori people, New Zealand landscapes, and indigenous flora and fauna in 1769.
[20] Cook's artists' paintings and descriptions of moko sparked an interest in the subject in Europe, and led to the tattoo becoming a tradition of the British Navy.
Ralph Hotere was New Zealand's highest selling living artist, but other such as Shane Cotton and Michael Parekowhai are also very successful.
Many contemporary Māori artists reference ancient myths and cultural practices in their work such as Derek Lardelli, Lisa Reihana, Sofia Minson, Te Rongo Kirkwood, Robyn Kahukiwa, Aaron Kereopa, Rangi Kipa, John Miller, Kura Te Waru Rewiri, Tracey Tawhiao, Roi Toia, Shane Hansen, John Bevan Ford, Jennifer Rendall, Todd Couper, Manos Nathan, Wayne Youle, Lyonel Grant, Wi Taepa and David Teata.
These include Māori and Pasifika artists whose work brought an integrated worldview of fine arts, craft and design not separated with a Western hierarchy that came out of the European Renaissance in the fifteenth century.
[28] Craft-based New Zealand artists include Ruth Baird, Merilyn Wiseman, Wi Taepa, Kobi Bosshard, Barry Brickell, Freda Brierley, Paerau Corneal, Ann Culy, Matarena George, and Susan Holmes, Humphrey Ikin, Rangi Kiu, Maureen Lander, Linley Main, Mike McGregor, John Parker, Baye Riddell, Emily Siddell and Diggeress Te Kanawa.
[28] The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award is a biennial competition that started in 2021 hosted at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata and intended to 'provide emerging Māori artists with the opportunity to showcase their talents on the national stage'.
