A Whakapapa of Tradition

One Hundred Years of Ngato Porou Carving, 1830-1930

Ngarino Ellis, Natalie Robertson

• Publisher: Auckland University Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781869407377
• eBook ISBN: 9781775587439
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

From the emergence of the chapel and the wharenui in the nineteenth century to the rejuvenation of carving by Apirana Ngata in the 1920s, Maori carving went through a rapid evolution from 1830 to 1930. Focusing on thirty meeting houses, Ngarino Ellis tells the story of Ngati Porou carving and a profound transformation in Maori art. Beginning around 1830, three previously dominant art traditions – waka taua (war canoes), pataka (decorated storehouses) and whare rangatira (chief's houses) – declined and were replaced by whare karakia (churches), whare whakairo (decorated meeting houses) and wharekai (dining halls). Ellis examines how and why that fundamental transformation took place by exploring the Iwirakau School of carving, based in the Waiapu Valley on the East Coast of the North Island. An ancestor who lived around the year 1700, Iwirakau is credited for reinvigorating the art of carving in the Waiapu region. The six major carvers of his school went on to create more than thirty important meeting houses and other structures. During this transformational period, carvers and patrons re-negotiated key concepts such as tikanga (tradition), tapu (sacredness) and mana (power, authority) – embedding them within the new architectural forms whilst preserving rituals surrounding the creation and use of buildings.  A Whakapapa of Tradition tells us much about the art forms themselves but also analyzes the environment that made carving and building possible: the patrons who were the enablers and transmitters of culture; the carvers who engaged with modern tools and ideas; and the communities as a whole who created the new forms of art and architecture. This book is both a major study of Ngati Porou carving and an attempt to make sense of Maori art history. What makes a tradition in Maori art? Ellis asks. How do traditions begin? Who decides this? Conversely, how and why do traditions cease? And what forces are at play which make some buildings acceptable and others not? Beautifully illustrated with new photography by Natalie Robertson, and drawing on the work of key scholars to make a new synthetic whole, this book will be a landmark volume in the history of writing about Maori art.

Index

Adsett, Sandy 6, 244

amo 11, 18, 32, 60, 71–72, 79–80, 109, 112–113, 117, 124, 130, 134–135, 142, 146–147, 155–156, 158, 162, 163, 167, 173–174, 179, 204, 247, 253–254, 259, 272, 274

Anaura Bay 12–13, 54, 70, 86–87, 248; see also Hinetamatea

Anglican Māori boarding schools 26, 185; see also Hukarere Maori Girls’ College; Te Aute College

animal imagery 78, 114

kurī (indigenous dogs) 78–81, 91, 142, 146–147, 260

European dogs 79; see also fish; pigs; whales

Arihia Memorial Dining Hall 3, 231, 240–243, 248, 276

Arikirangi Te Turuki, Te Kooti 82–83, 90, 92, 98, 148, 150–152, 215–216, 219, 227, 239, 256

patronage 192–193; see also Ringatū; Hauhau

Arikirua 38

ātea 2, 32, 65, 259

Aukuri see Okuri

authenticity 7, 10, 85, 93, 95, 97, 115, 196, 209, 216, 217, 221, 228

Baker, J. G. 54–55

Baker, Rev. Charles 44, 53–56, 58, 140

Ballantyne, Ted 243

battens see kaho paetara; kakaho

Best, Elsdon 29, 252

bone-scraping ceremony see hahunga

Buller, Walter 203, 223, 227; see also O Hine Waiapu

carving: training and education 100–104, 183–185, 220, 244

study carvings in museums 204

use of steel/metal tools 24, 28, 34, 158, 209

reusing older carvings 33, 202, 204, 219

as mnemonic device 95

forms 29–38

styles 27–28...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction: Te Ao Hurihuri o Iwirākau
• One: Iwirākau Visual Culture to 1830
• Two: He Tikanga Hoū: Chapels in the Waiapu, 1838–1860
• Three: Tradition and the Meeting House
• Four: Ngā Tohunga Whakairo o Iwirākau
• Five: Patronage
• Six: ‘Ka pū te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi’: Apirana Ngata, Hone Ngatoto and the End of the Iwirākau Carving School?
• Select List of Iwirākau Meeting Houses
• Occasional Carvers of the Iwirākau School
• Glossary
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Index
• Copyright Page
• Footnotes