Rock Art Aotearoa: Tradition and Change

CATALOGUE

ARooNtocveemkbaer 2rA019orta
Tradition and Change

Karakia

I te tīmatatanga
Ko Te Kore

Te Kore-te-whiwhia
Te Kore-te-rawea

Te Kore-i-ai
Te Kore-te-wiwia
Nā Te Kore Ko Te Pō

Te Pō-nui
Te Pō-roa
Te Pō-uriuri
Te Pō-kerekere
Te Pō-tiwhatiwha
Te Pō-te-kitea
Te Pō-tangotango
Te Pō-whāwhā
Te Pō-namunamu-ki-taiao
Te Pō-tahuri-atu
Te Pō-tahuri-mai-ki-taiao
Ki te Whai-ao
Ki te Ao-mārama
Tihei mauri-ora

2

In the beginning there was
the void in which nothing is possessed

the void in which nothing is felt
the void with nothing in union
the space without boundaries

from the void the night
the great night
the long night
the deep night
the intense night
the dark night

the night in which nothing is seen
the intensely dark night
the night of feeling

the night of seeking the passage to the world
the night of restless turning

the night of turning towards the revealed world
to the glimmer of dawn
to the bright light of day
there is life

Contents

Karakia - Page 2 Contemporary Renditions - continued:
Theo Schoon - Page 26
Foreword - Page 5
Tony Fomison - Page 30
Introduction: Tradition and Change -
Page 6 Selwyn Muru - Page 32

Little-Known Maori Rock Art: A Sad Story: Paratene Matchitt - Page 34
Page 9
Gordon Walters - Page 36
Pamela and Peter Russell
(Included throughout this catalogue are Olive Jones - Page 38
images of photographs taken by the
Russells) John Perry:
Contributions from a collection - Page 40
Contemporary Renditions of
Traditional Rock Art: Acknowledgements - Page 46
Len Lye - Page 20
Mauri (on Rock Art) by Hone Tuwhare -
ARD Fairburn - Page 22 Page 47

Aotearoa Rock Art Site Map - Page 25

Foreword Jermaine Reihana - Curator

The opening karakia refers to the spirit of fabric by the Devonport poet and artist
whanaungatanga in that it brings this A.R.D. Fairburn in the 1950s. It marked the
history and these works to light. 60th anniversary of Fairburn’s premature
death in March 1957 and was a tribute to
The notion of whanaungatanga is based on one of Aotearoa NZ’s literary icons.
the principles of relationship, kinship, sense
connection, where care is the defining fac- Relationship in the context of Rock Art
tor: a relationship through shared Aotearoa refers to the care for, and
experiences and working together which attention, to its diverse aspects: The
provides people with a sense of belonging. creators of the work over time, the original
rock artists, the tūpuna and those who have
As curator of Rock Art Aotearoa my meaningfully included the imagery of rock
responsibility has been to honour the role art into their work.
whose Latin roots are ‘to care for’.
We use this gallery, not only as a venue for
It is therefore important to acknowledge display, but as a meaningful environment
its origins as well as to ensure all aspects of which embraces the works and considers
this current exhibition are attended to. how we manaaki our visitors who will be
Rock Art Aotearoa: Tradition and Change viewing or interacting with this work.
had its origins here at Depot Artspace in It also reflects the kaupapa of Depot
2017 with Fairburn Rocks, an exhibition of Artspace where inclusiveness, innovation,
rare rock drawing panels hand-blocked onto responsiveness and courage are observed.

5

Introduction

ROCK ART AOTEAROA: TRADITION AND CHANGE

This exhibition features images of ancient generation of predominantly Māori artists
rock art, or cave paintings, discovered in began producing work with explicit
sites around Aotearoa. It shows how these European influences which were met,
images have been, and continue to be, according to sculptor Arnold Wilson, ‘with
referenced in contemporary works by both a big resistance’ by Māori dismayed at
Māori and Pākehā. the dilution or diminution of their cultural
heritage.’
Rock Art Aotearoa touches on many issues,
such as colonisation, cultural appropriation, This generation was referred to as the
the sanctity of tradition versus the Tovey Generation after the visionary
inevitable metamorphosis/ evolution of educationist Gordon Tovey, who inspired
cultural forms and symbols and the them to both practise and teach
subsequent subversion of history. contemporary Māori art. The group came
under some heavy criticism and were
These issues are contextualised in this accused of destroying Māori art, however
exhibition through the representation of other artists felt that it challenged the
similar, earlier controversies where status quo. Cliff Whiting contended that it
traditional Māori art forms were considered was what is hung in museums and the idea
to be culturally authentic and beyond the of what Māori art should be. Hirini Mead.
travesty of change. In the 1960’s a

6

Some of Aotearoa’s most revered artists South Island.
such as Theo Schoon, Gordon Walters and
ARD Fairburn experienced opprobrium due Fairburn did so in these block prints.
to the imagery and symbolism of Rock Art Subsequent to the exhibition we were gen-
in their work. erously gifted one of these works by Dinah
Holman, and more than a year later, Depot
Rock Art Aotearoa touches on each of these Artspace was the recipient of another Fair-
issues without detracting from the burn block print from the estate of the late
significance of thesubject, which is Rock Emeritus Professor Nicholas Tarling.
Art as art, its origins and development into
diverse renderings/forms over time. At the gifting of the work, with families and
friends of both ARD Fairburn and
The seeds of this exhibition were sown Professor Tarling in attendance, we met
some three years ago when writer and Pamela Russell, a university colleague of
historian, Dinah Holman curated an exhi- the professor, who further ignited our
bition at Depot Artspace, Fairburn Rocks interest in rock art, its imagery and
featured rare, hand-block prints on fabric symbolism. Pamela and her husband Peter
created by her father, poet and artist ARD had travelled Aotearoa photographing
Fairburn, who lived in Devonport from 1946 numerous rock art sites and producing one
till his untimely death in 1957. of the most comprehensive collections of
NZ rock art in the world. They travelled the
In 1947, Fairburn was approached by Theo world delivering papers on this little known
Schoon, Dutch Indonesian-born artist and subject, and we have been fortunate to
photographer, to immortalise the tracings have access to their papers and
Schoon had taken of prehistoric Māori rock photographs which take pride of place in
drawings from the limestones caves of the Rock Art Aotearoa.

Initially our intention was to focus entirely
upon ancient rock art as featured in the
Russell photographs and the drawings and
research of Schoon, Tony Fomison and
others who brought this work to the public
eye.

But then our attention turned towards the
use of these images both in popular culture
and in the work of Aotearoa NZ artists, both
Māori and Pākehā.

The widening of our focus seemed ap-
propriate as we came into contact with a
number of friends and colleagues for whom
rock art had considerable meaning, not
simply as a static historic subject, but as an
art form to be explored, interpreted,
adapted and evolved, and kept alive and
dynamic in the current arts and culture
environment.

LITTLE-KNOWN MAORI ROCK ART:

A SAD STORY

Pamela Russell and Peter Russell understanding New Zealand’s
prehistory, and some has considerable
ROCK ART aesthetic worth. Yet it is little known.
It is 150 years since the first written record Books on Māori art concentrate on the
of a Māori rock art site was made by a more recent carving in wood, stone and
surveyor at Takiroa in the South Island’s bone (eg. Barrow, 2000). Wellington’s lavish
Waitaki Valley (Trotter and McCulloch, new Museum of New Zealand ignores the
1971: 14). Since then hundreds of sites country’s earliest art completely, though
have been found and more are still being it was established to show the national
discovered. The art is significant for heritage.

We review the art’s sorry past, present
state, and possible future, seeking factors
behind its disastrous neglect and
destruction and suggesting remedies where
it is not too late.

Much of the art is drawn on walls and roofs
of shallow caves and shelters, primarily in
limestone areas on the eastern side of the
South Island. It has been dated by

9

archaeological deposits to the Archaic or it resembles the well-known wood carving.
Moa-hunter period, between AD 1100 and Common subjects are canoes, and
1500, ie. Soon after the Māoris’ ancestors decorative spirals and patterns; there are
migrated from Eastern Polynesia (Trotter also human faces and figures, and incised
and McCulloch, 1971: 78). foot-prints.

Subjects include humans, birds (several of On the remote Chatham islands are rock
the extinct moas are clearly drawn from faces with simplified but artistic carvings of
life), Polynesian dogs, fish, possible seals and perhaps birds; and on the trunks
birdmen, boats, and strange giant of karaka trees human figures have been
creatures, apparently the monsters of cut in the bark. Their bent limbs resemble
Māori legends. There are also concentric those of many South Island figures.
circles, spirals, chevrons and other
markings. Southern art is commonly In both North and South Islands there is
stylised, with similar imagery extending post-contact art with sailing ships, houses,
widely. horses and riders and writing in missionary
script.
For example, humans, birds and animals
often have a blank central strip. The
drawings vary greatly in artistic ability.

The North Island art is rarer, scattered, and
mainly incised or carved, though there is
some drawing and painting. This art seems
to be later, perhaps all done in the Classic
period of the last few hundred years, and

Most South Island art is drawn with dry With European colonisation, the art sites
charcoal, some with hematite or red ochre, were lost in the gullies and bluffs of large
and occasional the limestone surface is farms and hidden by thorny bushes. Sheep
abraded to a creamy white. The red ochre and cattle found the shelters and rubbed
was brought some distance; it was used to against the drawings. As the moa-hunters
colour human faces and the remains of the preferred sites facing the sun, many
dead and was apparently associated with drawings have faded rapidly. Natural flaking
tapu or sacred things (Thompson, 1989: of the stone and chemical action have
89). Use of binders to make a paint seems hastened their loss, along with the growth
exceptional, though a 19th century recipe of lichens and plants, and nesting birds. As
has soot from a burnt tree, berries, and bird shown by inscribed dates, graffiti writing
oil (Beattie, 1918: 149). and vandalism began early as sites became
known, and metal grilles were built at those
AN UNHAPPY HISTORY most visited.
Crucial in the art’s fate was the Māoris’
apparent loss of all traditional connections
with it. The moa- hunters had by about
1500 burnt off most of the forests in areas
where the South Island art was created.
With overhunting, and their dogs and rats,
they were the leading cause of the
extinction of moas and many other birds
Their seasonal hunting trips inland then
seem to have largely ceased (Trotter and
McCulloch, 1997: 46-53).

Another factor in the failure to accord the repainted with house paint. (Trotter and
art significance was ignorance about the McCulloch, 1971: 19).
artists. In the 19th century there were
some wildly false ideas. The Austrian Some early efforts were made to draw and
scientist Julius Von Haast claimed to see photograph the South Island art, but
the work of shipwrecked Tamils, while rival recording has only become extensive since
theories involved European shepherds and World War II Dutch artist Theo Schoon was
Buddhist missionaries. A myth about a engaged by the government to paint
people before the Māoris was widespread copies on cardboard. The first were
and still surfaces today (Anderson, 1998: accurate, but they departed from the
21). originals as Schoon’s inspiration took over.
He has also been much blamed for
Some of the worst damage in the last retouching some images with greasy
century was caused by experts. An crayon. Yet he deserves credit for finding
American, Dr J. Elmore chiselled out some more sites and recognising the art’s
drawings in 1917, evidently with a aesthetic worth. He thought more should
museum’s support. He may have meant to be done to save it, and appealed to
export them, but after an argument with UNESCO (Roberts, 1986: 5-9). Schoon was
landowners at a railway station most blocks not the only retoucher, and it is often
went to New Zealand museums. A 1930 unclear who did what. Indian ink was used
attempt to conserve the major site at Weka at times and also outlining with chalk.
pass, which has much red and black art,
is notorious. A leading museum director A new threat appeared with strings of
brought a technician to restore the art and hydro-electric dams planned in the 1950s
the most visible figures were completely on the Waikato and Waitaki rivers, both
important rock art areas. Formation of The

Historic Places Trust in 1954 aided moves (Trotter and McCulloch, 1971, 1981;
for excavating and recording. Careful work Dunn 1972; Thompson, 1989).
was done by archaeologists on both rivers.
Several rescues were tried, eg. A notable Only in 1980 was the Historic Places Act
Waitaki group of humans and dogs on passed to protect archaeological sites. Its
greywacke rock. Reassembled from a rather effectiveness in saving rock art seems to
shattered state, this is now displayed in the have been limited. The Historic Places Trust
Otago Museum. There are tales of piles and Department of Conservation try to pre-
of small pieces on other museum floors, serve sites, but with inadequate funding.
including the remains of interesting Some enlightened landowners are cove-
images from Waipapa on the nanting sites under the national QEII Trust.
Waikato (Dunn, 1966: 63). But much art
was drowned. A new effort, the South Island Māori Rock
Art Project (SIMRAP), was launched in the
Another artist, Tony Fomison, made 1990s by Ngā i Tahu Māoris to record all
accurate copies of many drawings in the South Island art. Areas so far surveyed have
1960s, using chinagraph pencil on plastic
sheets. He found widespread damage and
deterioration. Since then Brian High has
taken excellent photographs.

The first two books on Māori rock art did
not appear until the 1970s; there was
another in 1989. They are rather small, not
widely known, and all are out of print

revealed many more sites than are listed in We had to hunt behind a combine
the New Zealand Archaeological harvester. The surviving art is protected by
Association records. the roofs and an aware landowner.

THE STATE OF THE SITES Frenchman’s Gully is signposted on a side
We have inspected many sites in both road and reached by a stile over an electric
islands. Difficulties encountered included fence. The best-known group here, the
cliffs, bogs, nettles, thornbushes, electric birdmen, would be missed by many as
fences, barbed wire, local ignorance, bushes inside the grille almost conceal
misinformation, tapu bans, and reluctant them. Dog Rock shelter, hidden in a farm
farmers. gully, has a stylised dog and mysterious
drawings.
Takiroa, by a main highway, is the most
visited site. It has signboards, needed to At Craigmore, three almost life-size moas
show what was taken in Elmore’s are faint and would be easier to find with
depredations. The art features long red a picture-board beside them. They are in a
monsters or designs but is difficult for the valley with a moa-like rock. Other shelters
public to appreciate, apart from post- nearby have a drawing of the extinct giant
contact horsemen and ships. In nearby eagle, and snake-like figures with a human.
Earthquake Road, extraordinary images are A hilltop cave has an image which seems to
hidden on farms. A long-armed human on combine a human or lizard with a
a cave roof shows extreme development centipede. On a cave roof near the Opihi
of the central body blank. Incised patterns, River is an elaborate five-metre-long
rare in the South Island, appear with composition of three monsters or taniwha,
drawings of humans and eagles on one of which has appeared on a postage
limestone forming the back of three farms. stamp.

This masterpiece can only be seen proper- a national historical monument of the past.
ly by obtaining the key to the grille. Other It is unmarked from the road and few now
Opihi sites have been damaged by know it exists.
quarrying and road-building or become
inaccessible because of deer farming. One A shelter with 54 canoe shapes on the
notable image we did not see is of a small Waikato at Aratiatia has disappeared. We
boat with two people. believe it has been hidden or crushed by a
landslide. A coastal cliff site at Ongare,
The Weka Pass shelter has another Tauranga, has been destroyed by sea
reptilian creature swallowing a tiny human. erosion, heavy overhanging trees, graffiti,
Between the house paint figures are many and an axe attack.
others now barely visible. Pyramid Valley’s
drawings on striking outcrops are above a Canoes in red paint or drawn with
swamp with intact moa skeletons. charcoal, usually with stylised crews, are
found at Lakes Tarawera and Okataina,
The most spectacular North Island site is in Arapuni (wrongly considered drowned, they
a planted forest southeast of Rotorua. Forty were below the dam but the location is
canoes are cut in rhyolite at the back of a lost), and on a bluff at Awaroa near
25-metre-long curving shelter. One group in Waitomo.
bas-relief are war canoes with ornate prows
and sterns; some have spirals on the hulls. Other Northern art occurs in coastal caves,
A facing group of incised working canoes some accessible only at low tide.
seem cruder, later work. Zigzag lines prob- Whiritoa has distorted humans similar to
ably represent water. Mosses, lichens and wood carvings. Graffiti have damaged this
ferns damage the soft rock. A muddy sign- site. On the Taranaki coast are several
board says the site is scenically magnificent, sandstone caves, eg. Tongaporutu, with

incised feet with from three to seven toes. In the North, motives were surely diverse,
A slab from Mohakatino has elaborate like the art. Canoes may depict wars or
double spirals overrun with incised feet. migrations. Raids might explain the feet
Also in Taranaki, scattered boulders too. Tattooed boulders apparently indicated
occur for hundreds of kilometres, incised boundaries and prohibitions. Sculpted rocks
or pecked with spirals and other tattoo-like commonly symbolised an agricultural god.
markings. These are weathering away, On the Chathams trees were planted at the
especially where reached by ocean storms. births of children; humans carved on the
Here and elsewhere in the North, stones trunks may have continued to represent
have been sculpted into rough figures. these people after their deaths. Groves of
such trees seem to have been communal
INTERPRETING THE ART meeting places (King, 1989; 36).
The moa-hunter works in the South have
been seen as created for pleasure, or part Earlier scholars saw links to Eastern
of priestly rituals. Ethnography tells of Polynesia, eg. Easter Island birdmen, and
offerings by hunters and fishers to placate even memories of snakes and crocodiles
taniwha. The widespread similarity of styles in Indonesia. The consensus now seems to
and subjects suggests strong shared beliefs, be that Māori rock art subjects and styles
not solitary artistry. largely developed in New Zealand, though
they may remember broader Polynesian
The possible influence of the strange myths of monsters.
limestone landscapes has also been noted
(Thompson 1989: 35).

PROBLEMS AND POSSIBLE REMEDIES a partial replica could well be created in
Enclosing shelters with strong grilles against a museum. The site needs a carpark and
vandals and animals has helped preserve access track.
some major sites. Some farmers have
excluded stock with simpler fences. Only Trials in South Island to protect drawings
a minority of sites are enclosed however. with a siliconate coating hardened the rock
Grilles make viewing more difficult and surface but this then peeled away
intrude on the atmosphere, yet there completely. More experiments are
seems no alternative where there is public desirable to try to reduce both peeling and
access. Unlocking grilles has been banned fading. Pigment analyses, direct dating and
at some sites when visited by schoolchil- more site excavations are obvious needs.
dren and other big groups. Attempts to see through the house paint
with infrared and ultraviolet techniques
Kaingaroa illustrates another set of have not succeeded. There is scope for
problems. Discovered in 1925, it became trying new methods of enhancing faint
damper with afforestation. Some fir trees images.
were later removed but native vegetation is
replacing them. Mosses, lichens and ferns More training in conservation and rescue
are damaging the rock, especially the relief techniques would help prevent such
carvings. Latex moulds were made of the disasters as the attempt by an amateur
carvings, but these perished without casts archaeologist to mould incisions on a rock
being taken. The same thing happened at which lifted off the art as well, or the
Ongare. Kaingaroa deserves rescuing from moving of decorated Waikato boulders
limbo. The surface should be sprayed with which were damaged by the lifting cables.
herbicide and new moulds made. At least

All the above show the need for increased souvenirs as well as the Waitaki rescue
funding for the work of the Historic Places efforts.
Trust, Department of Conservation, and
other concerned bodies. More comprehensive displays and
publications of early Māori art are surely
THE MUSEUM’S ROLE needed throughout the country, including
As with books on Māori art, urban and local some items now in storage. It is not too
museums mainly concentrate on wood late to make replicas of some drawings
carving, much of it done after Europeans and paintings, the Kaingaroa canoes, and
introduced metal tools. In Auckland one the Chathams seals. The Museum of New
small drawing removed by Elmore is almost Zealand is an obvious place for such dis-
hidden in a corner. Canterbury Museum, plays. The art should also be experienced in
which has been involved with moas and its landscapes, and virtual reality site visits
rock art since Haast founded it, has an might do this, and reveal the ancient trails
effective moa-hunter diorama of the and river routes.
artists at work. Few would realise that this
involved choosing the pleasure rather than Issues of priorities, guardianship and
the ritual hypothesis. Canterbury has in cooperation must be addressed, including
storage a collection of Schoon and Fomison controversial claims by some Māori for
copies. If a selection was published, the intellectual property rights. As landowners
range of South Island art could be more said to us, the art is the heritage of all
widely appreciated. Timaru and Oamaru New Zealanders and conserving it is
display copies of important local works, the something to be shared by everyone.
Craigmore moas and Ngāpara’s group of
humans who seem to be dancing. Dunedin
has the biggest collection of Elmore’s



Len Lye

Aboriginal, Pacific Island and African
cultures, which went on to greatly
influence his work. In 1924 he was living
within an indigenous community in Samoa
for a few months before being kicked out
by the New Zealand Colonial
Administration.

Len Lye has been described as one of the He finally settled in London in 1926,
twentieth century’s most original artists; a quickly entering modernist circles, and
one-man art movement spanning several producing abstract paintings, batiks and
countries and multiple media over a life- sculpture. New Zealand newspapers began
time and beyond. He was known primar- picking up on reviews of Lye’s work in the
ily for his experimental films and kinetic British media and published their own
sculpture. \articles about the ‘Futurist New Zealand-
er’ who had ‘caused a sensation’ in
London with his ‘mechanised art’.

Lye was born in Christchurch in 1901. He Lye began film-making in 1929. He was
was one of the first Pākehā artists to unable to afford a camera and instead
appreciate the art of Māori, Australian experimented with painting directly onto
film. He combined Māori, Aboriginal,

20

Samoan and modernist influences in his animated In 1977, Len Lye returned to his homeland
works. ‘Colour Box’ (1935) won a medal of honour at to oversee the first New Zealand exhibition
the Brussels International Cinema Festival. The work of his work at the Govett-Brewster Art
was created by painting vibrant abstract patterns on Gallery. Shortly before his death in 1980,
the film itself, synchronizing them to a popular dance Lye and his supporters established the Len
tune by Don Baretto and His Cuban Orchestra. A panel Lye Foundation, to which he gave his work.
of animation experts convened in 2005 by the Annecy The gallery is the repository for much of
film festival put this film among the top ten most sig- this collection, employing a full-time
nificant works in the history of animation. curator to ensure its preservation and
appropriate exhibition.
Lye travelled to New York in 1944 and was so im-
pressed that he decided to stay on. He continued Lye was a maverick; he never fit into any
producing films and became involved in abstract of the usual art historical labels. He passed
expressionism and kinetic sculpture. He built an away in New York in 1980, aged 79. His
international reputation and gained American work is familiar to many filmmakers and
citizenship in 1950. kinetic sculptors – he was something of an
“artist’s artist”, and his innovations have
Continuing to experiment with film-making, Lye used had an international influence.
a range of dyes, stencils, air-brushed, felt tip pens,
stamps, combs and surgical instruments to create
images and textures on celluloid. Many of his kinetic
works can be found at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
in New Plymouth, Taranaki including a 45-metre high
Wind Wand near the sea. The Water Whirler, designed
by Lye but never realised in his lifetime, was installed
on Wellington’s waterfront in 2006.

ARD Fairburn

and King Edward Parade. He had left his
wartime job in public radio and felt more
than ready to use his talents as a graphic
artist. These had long been part of his life,
but had not yet found a medium that suited
him closely.

Cloth-printing in the immediate post-war
years was an attempt to make a living
independent of large organisations.

Fairburn Rock Art and Cloth Printing There has been little attempt to look at the
Excerpts from an essay by Denys Trussell artistic rocks of Fairburn’s cloth-printing.
written for the opening of “Fairburn Rocks” Until now they have been largely treated by
at the Depot Artspace, March, 2017 critics as a craft venture with commercial
Fairburn was in his early forties when he overtones. If they were a money-making
began his cloth printing activities, based exercise they were largely a failure, not the
on drawings and photos sent to him by the least because Fairburn was generous, cared
Dutch-Indonesian artist, Theo Schoon. little for profit and gave a lot of his work
It was the right time for this venture. The away. Their significance is aesthetic and
Fairburn family had just (1946) moved into art-historical. It’s my belief that, in
a large house on the corner of Mays Road creating them, Fairburn made his peace

22

with Modernism and found his fulfillment, great precision.” Fairburn also saw affinities
albeit briefly, as a graphic artist. Many between Miro’s imagery and the rock art.
accusations have been made about his In this he was ahead of some art-historical
‘appropriation’, particularly of the rock art opinion that believed the images were just
of Maori, but few have commented on his ‘doodling.’
positive and interesting achievement with
such material. Firstly it was a conservation This sense of the timeless was re-
exercise to which he was exhorted by Theo discovered in Modernism, but it also has a
Schoon, who hoped involving Fairburn in strong presence in many aboriginal
such a project would help save the original cultures. It can be seen in the rock art of
images and sites from careless both Maori and Australian aboriginal
destruction. This had become urgent, since societies.
the government were not prepared to
move on the issue. Also it was hoped that Fairburn had not seen the rock art first
broadcasting this remarkable imagery by hand. He did not travel to the South Island
way of cloth-printing would increase public until 1947. His contact with it was through
awareness and appreciation of it. the medium of Schoon’s photos and
drawings. “I copied them as exactly as
Back to Klee. I think it highly probable pssible and then used them in two ways-
that he had read Klee’s “creative credo,” as ordinary fabric patterns and as the
originally published in German in1920. In elements of arbitrary ‘colour arrangements’
it Klee speaks of a graphic art with highly on rectangular panels” he told Sarah
delineated forms and of how profound Campion in a 1949 interview.
such a medium could be: “graphic imagery,
being confined to outlines, has a fairy-like But in these arbitrary arrangements he
quality and at the same time can achieve achieved often a resonance and meaning

that was consistent with the originals on I have no wish to circle
the rock. They speak to us of antiquity, yet the globe,have no desire
freshness of human graphic imagination to travel beyond my chosen acre:
and of the enigma posed by the existence would choose to live in peace in
of such figurative shapes. one placeand make my life one
stay:there is much to unravel,
They remain controversial in art theory
circles. This, I believe indicates that they and much to piece
captured meanings not expected to be together. I would pick up a shell
caught by an artist who could be believed and scan it for half a day,wander
to be a maverick. But before our more the paths of childhood, traverse the
recent art theorists dismiss him as an
amateur blundering in where angels and waythat is lost for ever;
anthropologists fear to tread, we need to I would think of the living, so restless
remember that he was vastly read in art
history and both drew and painted in their sleep,I would dream of the
throughout his adult life. The Elam School dead with their quiet faces,see in my
of his day had sufficient confidence in his
artistic professionalism to employ him as a little roomthe world stretched on
lecturer in the history and theory of art- the great rack of doom.
a position he held for the last eight years of
his life. He wrote extensively on art as well Excerpt from ‘To A Friend In The Wilderness’ by ARD
and left one of the most far-sighted essays Fairburn
on the future of visual art in this
country-Some aspects of New Zealand Art
and Letters,” published in 1934 in the
periodical, Art in New Zealand.

Denys Trussell

Aotearoa Rock Art Site Map

25

Theo Schoon

1915 - 1985 Schoon was mostly unimpressed with the
Artist, photographer, carver local art scene in New Zealand. He did,
however, briefly attend the Canterbury
He was born in Java in 1915 where he lived University Ilam School of Fine Arts before
with his Dutch parents until he travelled to moving to Wellington in 1941. While in
the Netherlands to attend the Rotterdam Wellington he came in contact with artists
Academy of Fine Arts. The war lead Theo he admired and influenced including Rita
and his family to emigrate to New Zealand Angus – for whom he was one of the main
in 1939. sources of her interest in Buddhist art and
culture; Gordon Walters – with whom he
shared his interest in non figurative
painting; Dennis Knight Turner; and
A. R. D. Fairburn. Schoon’s portrait was
painted by Rita Angus and Douglas
MacDiarmid.

The Second World War years in New
Zealand, and being subjected to attempts
by the government to “manpower” him
into work, made Schoon’s life hell. He felt
as though he was exiled. To regain his
balance, he took to the hills in search of

26

an ivory tower. He sought refuge in the impassioned plea to Rex Fairburn.
limestone caves and shelters of the ranges In June that year, Schoon wrote to Fairburn,
of the South Island. This is where his chance asking him to do everything in his power,
encounter with Māori art happened, which using his contacts and literary skills, to
grew into an obsession and prevented him persuade the authorities to put a stop to
from leaving New Zealand. In Māori art and the destruction. Eventually however,
culture Schoon found objects and ideas and Fairburn was advised that little could be
social patterns that evoked what he had left done because the drawings were on private
behind in Indonesia. And it was his land.
childhood and early twenties in Java and
Bali that explained his ability to see things Fairburn did his part to let the world know
that other Pākehā could not, and to be about the Māori prehistoric rock drawings
open to cultural difference in a way that and Schoon began sending Fairburn his
was unusual in Pākehā society in the 1940s. tracings and photographs of the rock
drawings. With Schoon’s permission,
Whilst in the caves he found an astonishing Fairburn began to create linocuts from
collection of prehistoric Māori art on the the tracings.
walls of the caves and shelters, the finest he
had ever seen. To his distress, local farmers During this time, Schoon stayed with the
were destroying some of this art when they Fairburn family in their Devonport home.
quarried the limestone, and cattle were He entertained the Fairburn children with
also destroying the drawings by rubbing his Javanese dancing shadow animals.
against the walls.
In 1950 he moved to Rotorua to begin a
Schoon came into the lives of the photographic series of mudpools and silica
Fairburn family in 1947, when he sent an formations. His focus shifted to Māori

designs, including Moko, carved gourds and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa
kowhaiwhai, upon his return to Auckland in Tongarewa. A further major collection of his
1952. This led to Schoon’s study of work is part of the John Money Collection
traditional carving techniques alongside at Eastern Southland Gallery in Gore, New
Māori carver Pine Taiapa. Zealand. His artwork is becoming more
widely appreciated today.
Schoon himself continued a life of art –
painting, photography, writing and the “I have nothing in common with the white
carving of gourds. He eventually moved to New Zealand culture, which is Victorian
Sydney in 1972 where he completed a book and dead. But the Maori culture, decadent
on jade carving. He passed away in 1985 as it may be, still has colour, flavour, and
aged 69. His extensive archive including that irrationality which never fails to baffle,
sketch books, photographic negatives and astonish, and fascinate me.”
correspondence was purchased by the

“ I have nothing in common with the white New
Zealand culture, which is Victorian and dead. But
the Maori culture, decadent as it may be, still has

colour, flavour, and that irrationality which never

”fails to baffle, astonish, and fascinate me.



Tony Fomison

in Redcliffs. He made accurate copies of
many Māori rock drawings, using china-
graph pencil on plastic sheets. He went on
to study sculpture at Canterbury School
of Fine Arts. He began painting seriously
in 1961, and in 1962 he travelled to Spain
and England, where he was hospitalised
for drug addiction.

Tony Fomison was a New Zealand artist This was the same time that Fomison
best known for his unique paintings often produced some of his darkest and most
depicting monsters, misfits and medical disturbing paintings.
deformities. His works challenged polite
society, and explored the meaning of being He returned to Christchurch in 1967 and
an outsider. then moved to Auckland in 1973. His work
then began to be heavily influenced by
Fomison was born in Christchurch, and Polynesian culture, including attempts to
developed a strong interest in archaeology help revive the skill of traditional Tā moko
from an early age. In secondary school he tattooing. Around this time, he met and
helped with the excavation of a Māori cave formed a close friendship with artist Colin
McCahon.

30

One of the main influences that surface In 1985 he was the inaugural recipient of
in Fomison’s portraits can be traced back the Rita Angus Residency and it is reported
to his early adolescent explorations. As a that Fomison planned to spend his time
dedicated and informed wanderer among in Wellington, developing his connections
the Māori petroglyphs of the central South with the local Samoan community.
Island, Fomison made many tracings and
evolved his own chronology of stylistic He died five years later, at the age of 50, at
development. This interest culminated in a the commemorations of the 150th
brief year as assistant ethnologist at anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of
Canterbury Museum. Waitangi.

“ I was busy protecting the as yet unborn baby
of my painting by doing sculpture. I was at art
school and I didn’t know I was being taught
”by the landscape.

Selwyn Muru

communication. From dawn to dusk and
deep into the candle-lit night, the
language in all its shades, colours and
textures flowed, trickled and boomed over
us,” he said.

Selwyn Muru is a broadcaster, Although poorly endowed, the parent’s in
poet, journalist, musician, actor Muru’s village fought for their children to
and the first Māori artist to have be educated, and he went on to obtain his
a work acquired by the National teaching certificate at Ardmore College.
Art Gallery. In 1962 he began work as a painter as well
as a professional pianist and part-time art
Muru was born in Te Hapua, Tai Tokerau, tutor at Mount Eden Prison.
and was fluent in Te Reo Māori by the age
of 5. “It was no big deal then. Like His impressive and varied career
any other isolated Māori community, expanded in the 70s and 80s and included:
te reo Māori was the only means of Head of Programmes at Radio New
Zealand, National Cultural Affairs
Consultant for the Department of Māori
Affairs, Arts Adviser to the Ministry of
Works and Writer for The Dominion,
Evening Post and the Listener.

32

Muru wrote the first first Māori language Muru’s early work experimented with a
play to be broadcast on radio: Te Ohaki A variety of styles and genres, including
Nihe, which was later adapted for portraits, still lifes and landscapes.
television.
“The best thing that has happened to art in
His art work Kohatu, painted in 1965, Auckland this year,” is how a newspaper
was shown in the Manawatu Prize for critic described the emergence of the
Contemporary Art exhibition in young Māori painter Selwyn Muru,’
Palmerston North. It was there that it was reported Te Ao Hou magazine of Muru’s
purchased for the national collection. 1963 exhibition at the Auckland Society of
Arts.
In te reo Māori, kohatu means stone. Built
up from thickly textured layers of ochre He was among the first Māori artists to
paint, the surface of Kohatu is evocative of adapt the materials and approaches of
a cave interior. To this, Muru applied images Western modernism in his art practice.
abstracted from the rock art of the South Muru is self-taught and once said he
Island’s Waitaha people, the oldest art believes all artists are: ‘I think every serious
forms in New Zealand. Muru used the rock painter is mainly self-taught. Of course, this
art to evoke timelessness, but rather than means going through several influences.
directly reproducing the imagery, he I have aped Cézanne, Van Gogh, and
developed his own language based on Picasso for long periods - now I hope to be
these ancient works. Rock art was a rich painting like Muru.’
source of inspiration for Muru’s paintings
during this period, among them two large Muru is now in his 80s and is still a
murals commissioned by the Wellington practising artist.
Harbour Board in 1965.

Paratene Matchitt

workshop. After high school, Matchitt
went on to study and graduate from
Auckland Teacher’s Training College in
1956. Following graduation, he moved to
Dunedin to take a course in teaching arts
and crafts in schools. In 1957, he took on
his role as arts and crafts advisor for the
South Auckland Education Board. He is
known for combining traditional Māori art
forms with those of modernist art.

Paratene Matchitt is a New Zealand His work also references events from
sculptor and painter best known for his New Zealand history, particularly the
large-scale public sculptures in Wellington Māori prophetic movements of the
and Auckland’s Aotea Square. He has been nineteenth century and most
called a true Māori “modern”, the themes specifically Te Kooti. He is also well known
of his artwork inspired by ancient Māori for his steadfast refusal to conform to the
legends. strictures of tradition and his ambition to
create a new art (informed by
Matchitt was born in Tokomaru Bay, East modernism) capable of conveying his
Cape in 1933. His art formation began with artistic and cultural vision.
helping his father and grandfather in their

34

In November 1964, Matchitt was exhibited best known for his large-scale public
with other major Māori artists (Clive Arlidge sculpture such as the City to Sea Bridge in
and Fred Graham) in Hamilton. In 1974 he Wellington (1993) and Auckland’s Aotea
created one of his greatest bodies of work: Centre (1989). He is now in his 80s and his
Te Pakanga, which is a series of 35 work continues to inform and shape the
drawings featuring indigenous motifs. future direction of contemporary art in
At this time Matchitt was an Arts Advisory New Zealand.
Officer in South Auckland. Matchitt is now

“ The modern Mãori is not identical with
his ancestors.

It would be strange if the way he expresses

”himself did not show evidence of this.

Gordon Walters

He attended the Wellington Technical
School of Art (1935-1944), becoming
interested in European modernism
through reproductions of works by Yves
Tanguy and his association with Theo
Schoon, who introduced Walters to Māori
rock art.

In the mid-1960s, Gordon Walters emerged In 1946 he visited Schoon who was
as a unique presence in the modern recording Māori rock art in South
movement in New Zealand, his works Canterbury, near the Opihi River. This
engaging with international modernism in influenced Walters to introduce ideas and
a series of geometric, abstract paintings motifs from indigenous art into his own
that positioned the traditional, organic koru work.
form of Māori art within the aesthetics of
European and American abstraction. Walters then travelled to Europe in 1950
where he was exposed to other artists
Born in Wellington in 1919, Walters trained such as Mondrian and Victor Vasarely.
and worked as a commercial artist. Upon his return to New Zealand, in the
mid 50s, he began researching Māori
rafter painting and decorative design.
Walters modified the fern motif found in

36

whare Whakairo and traditional Polynesian work from the koru series until the 1980s.
tattoos, by geometricising it and alternating In 1983 a major retrospective of his work
positive and negative versions in the was held at the Auckland Art Gallery and
manner of the Italian painter Giuseppe toured to venues throughout New Zealand.
Caprogrossi. His paintings began utilising He received criticism for appropriating
this koru form, responding to its potential motifs, but Walters himself saw it as a
for simultaneously defining positive and positive response to being an artist with
negative space on the surface of the picture bicultural roots.
plane.
In the mid-1980s Walters abandoned koru
By the mid-1960s, Walters was painting full and began using austere rectangular planar
time and had created a new style of compositions that investigated tensions and
painting in which Māori motifs and spatial suggestiveness resulting from
European abstract painting were drawn transparency, colour, tone and proportion.
together. He introduced new colour These were a result of his long interest in
combinations, including primaries such as the French abstract artist Herbin, the
blue and yellow and very soft pastels with American abstract artist McLaughlin and
reduced tonal contrast. He also often forms found in Māori rock art.
experimented with muted colour and
dramatically enlarged korus, always settling Walters died in Christchurch in 1995,
on final composition and scale by adjusting aged 76.
preparatory collages.

Walters moved to Christchurch with his
family is 1970, but continued to exhibit

Olive Jones

Jones decided to follow her sister to

England in 1932 and soon later enrolled

at the London County Council’s Central

School of Arts and Crafts. Through her

training she became experienced with

electric kilns, firing temperatures and she

tested New Zealand clay samples. After

her second year in London Jones

attended the Wedgwood Institute, where

she was able to observe serious

Olive Jones was a pioneering potter production-throwing as opposed to
amongst the New Zealand arts and crafts student work. She bought a second hand
movement. She left behind a legacy that potter’s wheel, kiln plans and parts. Jones
inspires many to this day. returned to Auckland in 1934, and in the
same year she was accepted as a member

Jones was born in Onehunga and attended of the Auckland Society of Arts. She put

Elam School of Arts. She trained as a girls’ on a small solo show, exhibiting pieces she

work secretary at the Auckland YWCA had brought back from England. Jones set

in 1922, where she worked with their Girl up her own workshop in the family shed,

Citizen Youth Programme. In 1930, while in and using her industrial wheel, self-made

Australia with a YWCA group, she saw her tools, glaze and kiln began to sell from her

38 first studio pottery. studio.

World War Two meant the increase in demonstrations and inspiration which
demand for locally made goods and a became a solid base for the craft revival of
bigger oil-fired kiln. She then began to the 1960s.
exhibit her work on a wider scale such as
the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition held She continued to create work until her
in Wellington for six months. Also at the death in 1982. At her funeral service the
Otago Museum. coffin was surrounded by her pots, brought
by her friends.
Jones enjoyed experimenting with her
pottery work, and her unpredictable works
became highly sort after as collector’s
items. She also created bowls and vases
decorated with Māori rock art and kowhai
flower relief. Large mugs, jugs and
book-ends were also popular Jones’ pieces.
In 1962, with fellow artists Mavis Robinson,
Paula King and Tony Valintine, she started
the first New Zealand Pottery Collective;
located on Mount Albert.

Jones was described by many as a free
thinker. She helped to establish a s
ympathetic climate for pottery in
New Zealand. She provided teaching,

John Perry

JOHN PERRY: SOCIAL HISTORIAN AND
FOLK ART AFICIONADO
John Perry is a recognised authority on all
subjects that relate to social history, folk
art, ethnographica and the cultural
landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Throughout his adventurous life, which
included time as Director of the Bath House
Museum in Rotorua he has assembled a
vast, eclectic and intriguing collection of
art, object and memorabilia, along with
along with a cornucopia of stories about
the array of people whose paths he has
crossed.
John has kindly contributed a few gems
from his Helensville emporium, Global
Village Antiques that represent the use of
rock art in popular culture and domestic
ware.
https://culturalicons.co.nz/john-perry/

40











Acknowledgements

Rock Art Aotearoa has been both a
curatorial experience and an
anthropological adventure as we moved
beyond the historical detail of the original
drawings to include their presence in
contemporary works of art.

Our thanks are to those who have played
a role in this journey.

Among them are:
Pamela Russell, Peter Russell,
Gerard O’Regan, John Perry,
Denys Trussell, Dinah Holman,
Nicholas Tarling and the artists who
continue to be inspired by this mahi.

46

Mauri

Ere gods were shaped still did this man’s tribe store
to polished images of brass reverence for the stone
and fired clay from whence plants sprang
the meek stone hardened sweet water leapt:
to a consciousness its own.
and jealous of its well-spring
From its soul’s core, sun destroyed utterly
to another sun responded: the new god’s sour
succoured the lonely man and honeyed strength
his tribe’s invention of trees turning alas
sweeping the ky’s floor clean. the meek stone’s joy
to a cloud
When gods were fused to an ashen face
to an angered one
all-seeing triple-faced Hone Tuwhare

47

AUR I T OI

M