Goldie stamps his mark on Maoridom

While the horrors of two world wars, geographic isolation and several outstanding politicians laid the foundation of today’s New Zealand character, a number of less well-known people have also played a significant role in shaping who and what we are. Over

Few things make New Zealand as unique as our indigenous Maori culture. There is nothing like it anywhere else in the world but it is very different to the Polynesian society Abel Tasman and Captain Cook found here more than 200 years ago.

Remnants of the original Maori culture and society still exist but as part of modern and ever evolving Maori society today.

While Tasman had a short and tragic encounter with Maori, Cook took the time to learn, see and record as much as he could of these fascinating and strange people.

However their attempts to describe Maori people and society in writing fell far short of accurate and attempts at portraits were little better.

In the days before electronic navigation systems most ships had a cartographer to draw accurate charts of new territories. Without photography they also sketched the plants, animals and people they encountered. It was the only record they could take back home but their art was heavily influenced by the classic masters of the time.

Many early portraits have Greek or Roman features and even clothing.

Without later portrait artists, who painted exactly what they saw in meticulous detail, much of vibrancy and colour of early Maori society would have been lost.

Foremost among these later artists was Charles Frederick Goldie.

He was born in Auckland on October 20, 1870. His father, David Goldie, was a prominent timber merchant and politician, and a strict Methodist.

Goldie’s mother was an amateur artist and encouraged his artistic ability.

He was educated at Auckland Grammar School where he won several prizes from the Auckland Society of Arts and the New Zealand Art Students’ Association.

After leaving school Goldie worked for his father and studied art part-time under Louis John Steele.

Governor of New Zealand George Grey was so impressed by two of Goldie’s still-life paintings that he persuaded his father into permitting his son to undertake further art training in Paris at the famous Acade´ mie Julian where he received a strong grounding in drawing and painting.

On his return to New Zealand in 1898 Goldie established the ‘‘French Academy of Art’’ with Louis J. Steele, his former tutor. They shared a studio and collaborated on the large painting The Arrival of the Maori in New Zealand.

Even at this late stage New Zealand artists were still influenced by European classics and the work was based on The´ odore Ge´ ricault’s The Raft of the Medusa. It depicted exhausted, starved and stormtossed Polynesian mariners sighting land after a long journey by catamaran.

It has since been criticised as historically inaccurate but it was widely praised at the time and launched Goldie’s career.

From 1901 Goldie made field trips to meet, sketch and photograph Maori people in their own locations, and he also paid Maori visitors to Auckland to sit for him. Most of these were chiefs visiting the Native Land Court.

Most of Goldie’s subjects were elderly, tattooed Mari of considerable standing in their own society. Full facial tattooing had been discontinued by that time and those who still wore the distinctive and intricate markings of high rank were mostly elderly.

Goldie dedicated his life to painting the Maori chiefs, Maori leaders and their communities who also became his friends. He lived with them on their various marae and learned to speak fluent Maori. Although he could have chosen to paint in many of the various popular styles of art at the time he believed that he had a gift and that was to dedicate his life to preserving the heritage of the Maori people whom he greatly admired.

There are many critics of his work as it was so extraordinarily detailed and some suspected that he used photographs frequently but that is untrue. He was highly trained and from a young age showed exceptional and undeniable talent.

In late 1920 Goldie travelled to Sydney, where on November 18, at the age of 50, he married 35-year-old Olive Ethelwyn Cooper, an Australian by birth but a resident of Auckland. They did not have any children.

Goldie was Auckland based and his subjects were mainly those from the tribes in the upper North Island.

Goldie’s health eventually deteriorated through lead poisoning from the lead white used to prepare his canvases.

In order to create the finest of detail in his paintings, he would lick the end of his paint brush to ensure an even finer tip. This was a relatively common practice of the day and sadly led to his decline in health. He produced little work in the 1920s. However he resumed painting around 1930 and in 1935 he exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and in 1935, 1938 and 1939; the Salon of the Socie´te´ des artistes franc¸ais. In 1935 he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal. Soon after, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to art in New Zealand in the 1935 King’s Birthday and Silver Jubilee Honours. He stopped painting altogether in 1941 and died on July 11, 1947 aged 77.

Goldie dedicated his life to painting the Maori chiefs, Maori leaders and their communities who also became his friends. He lived with them on their various marae and learned to speak fluent Maori.