Restored artwork joins Lindauer display
A colonial taonga has been lovingly restored to its former glory and taken to Masterton to be put on display with its whanau.
A portrait of Huru Te Hiaro, recently repaired by a Te Papa conservator, arrived at Aratoi Museum on Friday amid much fanfare.
The Gottfried Lindauer portrait was greeted with a powhiri, and onlookers got a first glimpse of the painting that has been repaired after being ripped before coming into the national collection.
The portrait joins 11 Lindauer portraits of Wairarapa rangatira, or leaders, on display as part of the Te Marae o Rongotaketake – Redressing our Kahungunu History exhibition until September 3.
Newly appointed museum director Susanna Shadbolt said it was an honour to secure the painting to complete the collection.
‘‘It’s such an important work and it is great to have as part of the exhibition.
‘‘Even though the exhibition is halfway through, they still reckoned it needed to be part of it to bring the whanau together,’’ she said.
Lindauer expert Roger Blackley, of Victoria University, spoke at Aratoi Museum recently about the collection.
‘‘I am particularly interested in the depiction of indigenous peoples, the history of exhibitions and museums, and theories and practices of collecting. Another keen interest is art forgery – especially the subtle borderline that divides authentic from inauthentic,’’ he said.
Blackley’s illustrated lecture revealed a host of fascinating facts about the artist and the history of his paintings. Lindauer’s commissioned portraits had been ‘‘highly priced status symbols’’ and tended to cost between £20 and £50 in his heyday in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Blackley also talked about the differences between the styles of Lindauer and his contemporary, Charles Goldie.
Another interesting aside was that it was one of New Zealand’s other artistic luminaries, Colin Mccahon, who removed Lindauer’s original frames from portraits at Auckland Art Gallery.
Blackley talked about the theft of two paintings in Auckland in April.
The audience at Aratoi included artists, academics, museum professionals, museum donors, archivists, and residents of Woodville where Lindauer lived for about 40 years and where he is buried.