Maori girl

Text originally created for Tūrangawaewae: Art and New Zealand exhibition at Te Papa, March 2018. Commissioned portraits gave Māori control over how they were represented. This portrait was probably painted for this unidentified girl or her whānau [family]. Gottfried Lindauer’s portraits of Māori painted for Pākehā usually feature customary adornment and clothing. But this elegant young woman wears beautifully tailored European clothing – her own choice of personal expression. Lindauer painted many portraits for Māori clients from the mid 1870s. For his sitters, portraiture was another way of representing themselves, in addition to whakairo [carving] and other art forms. Nō te Māori te mana o ngā kōwaiwai kiritangata i tonoa e rātou. Te āhua nei i peitatia tēnei kōwaiwai kiritangata mō tēnei kōtiro ingoa-kore, mō tana whānau rānei. I te nuinga o te wā, ko ngā kōwaiwai kiritangata o te Māori, nā Gottfried Lindauer i peita mō te Pākehā, i uhia rā ki ngā taonga Māori me ngā kākahu Māori. Ahakoa tērā, kei te mau kākahu huatau Pākehā tēnei wahine – hei tohu i tōna wairua ake. He maha ngā kōwaiwai kiritangata i peitatia e Lindauer mō te Māori mai i ngā tau waenga o te tekau tau 1870. He ara anō ngā kōwaiwai kiritangata hei whakaatu i te tuakiri o te tangata e peitangia ana, pēnei i te whakairo me ētahi atu mahi toi.