Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Maori Art

A landmark account in words and pictures of Māori art, by Māori art historians—from Polynesian voyaging waka to contemporary Māori artists. He toi whakairo, he mana tangata. Through artistic excellence, there is human dignity. In six hundred pages and with over five hundred illustrations, this volume takes us on an extraordinary voyage through Māori art—from ancestral weavers to contemporary artists at the Venice Biennale, from whare whakairo to film, and from Te Puea Hērangi to Michael Parekōwhai. Deidre Brown, Ngarino Ellis, and Jonathan Mane-Wheoki explore a wide field of art practices, including raranga (plaiting), whatu (weaving), moko (tattooing), whakairo (carving), rākai (jewellery), kākahu (textiles), whare (architecture), toi whenua (rock art), painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, installation art, digital media, and film. The works discussed span a period from the arrival of Pacific voyagers eight hundred years ago to the contemporary artists working around the world today. With expansive chapters and breakout texts focusing on individual artists, movements, and events, Toi Te Mana is an essential book for anyone interested in te ao Māori.

Table of Contents:
He kupu whakataki—Preface Tīmatanga kōrero—Introduction   Part 1—Te Kete Tuatea 1 Ngā momo waka: Moana, migration and Māori / Ngarino Ellis Tā Hekenukumaingāiwi Busby, KNZM MBE (1932–2019) / Ngarino Ellis 2 Ngā toi whakairo: The arts of carving / Ngarino Ellis The Taiapa brothers: Carving in the twentieth century / Ngarino Ellis Morelli and the nineteenth-century papahou artist / Ngarino Ellis Māori art and archaeology / Deidre Brown 3 Ngā kākahu: Textiles / Ngarino Ellis Tahuaroa, pākūwhā and hākari: The display and gifting of taonga / Ngarino Ellis Tihei mauri ora: The remaking of cloaks from museum collections / Ngarino Ellis 4 Ngā whare: Architecture / Deidre Brown and Ngarino Ellis Pakaariki Harrison, QSO (1928–2008) / Ngarino Ellis 5 Ngā toi whenua: Rock art / Deidre Brown 6 Ngā taonga o Wharawhara: Body adornment / Ngarino Ellis Areta Wilkinson / Deidre Brown Pounamu / Ngarino Ellis 7 Mana wāhine, mana tāne, mana takatāpui: Depicting gender in Māori art / Ngarino Ellis Men and weaving / Ngarino Ellis   Part 2—Te Kete Tuauri 8 Taonga, Māori and museums / Ngarino Ellis Tāngata mamae: The tragic story of Te Maro, Ranginui and Te Kuku / Ngarino Ellis Joseph Banks and the forty brass patu replicas / Ngarino Ellis Tupaia / Ngarino Ellis 9 Māori art and the Christian missions / Deidre Brown Hongi Hika’s self-portraits / Deidre Brown Hone Heke’s ‘collar’ / Deidre Brown He tikanga hōu? Figurative art in Rangitukia in 1838 / Ngarino Ellis 10 The art of utu / Deidre Brown The Mātaatua wharenui / Jonathan Mane-Wheoki 11 Transforming cultures and traditions: New materials, ideas and technologies / Ngarino Ellis Moko signatures and tino rangatiratanga / Ngarino Ellis Early Māori drawings / Deidre Brown The second age of iron / Deidre Brown 12 Ngā toi mōrehu: The arts of survival / Deidre Brown Māori flags and banners / Deidre Brown 13 Ka whawhai tonu mātou: Taonga and museums since 1900 / Ngarino Ellis Trick or taonga: The mysterious case of the green-painted patu pora / Deidre Brown Fakes in the collection / Ngarino Ellis Collecting the ancestors / Ngarino Ellis Enrico Giglioli and the taonga collection in the Pigorini National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography, Rome / Ngarino Ellis   Part 3—Te Kete Aronui 14 The art of social reform: Te Puea, Ngata and Rātana / Deidre Brown Te Araiteuru pā at the 1906 New Zealand International Exhibition / Deidre Brown 15 The emergence of contemporary Māori art 1950–1975 / Jonathan Mane-Wheoki Oriwa Haddon (1898–1958) / Deidre Brown and Jonathan Mane-Wheoki Ramai Hayward (1916–2014) / Deidre Brown and Jonathan Mane-Wheoki Pauline Kahurangi Yearbury (1926–1977) / Deidre Brown 16 Urban Māori art and architecture / Deidre Brown Street art / Deidre Brown 17 A new tradition or old disruption? / Contemporary Māori exhibitions 1990–2021 / Deidre Brown Māori architects and architectural designers / Deidre Brown Māori designers / Deidre Brown Māori Moving Image exhibition / Ngarino Ellis Wairau Māori Art Gallery: The first public Māori art gallery / Deidre Brown 18 Māori art in Western Europe and Australia / Deidre Brown Ngāti Rānana and Hinemihi / Deidre Brown and Ngarino Ellis Māori art as a cultural property / Deidre Brown 19 Haumi ē! Hui ē! Tāiki ē! Māori and Indigenous art on the global stage / Ngarino Ellis Ngā taonga uku: Māori ceramicists and clay workers / Deidre Brown Contemporary Māori clothing / Deidre Brown Advice to Māori artists / Jonathan Mane-Wheoki   Whakamutunga—Conclusion Ngā pitopito kōrero—Notes Kuputaka—Glossary Rārangi pukapuka—Select bibliography Kuputohu—Index

About the Author :
Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) is a Māori art and architectural historian and professor of architecture at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. Her books include Māori Architecture, Introducing Māori Art, and the multiauthored Art in Oceania. Brown is a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi and Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects. Ngarino Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou) is associate professor of art history at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. She is the author of A Whakapapa of Tradition and coeditor of Te Puna (with Deidre Brown) and Te Ata (with Witi Ihimaera). Ellis’s curatorial projects include exhibitions at the Linden Museum and Auckland Art Gallery. Jonathan Mane-Wheoki CNZM (1943–2014; Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī) was an art historian specializing in Māori, New Zealand, and European art. He was the director of art and collection services at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and head of the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland.  

Review :
"Here, the breadth of Māori artistic practices, from shipbuilding to urban graffiti, is placed within a continuum of Māori heritage. A traditional cloak can embody a tribe’s whakapapa—its inheritances and genealogies—within the pattern of the weave and the materials used. Large, gorgeous images capture centuries-old objects, abstract modern installations, and everything in between, tying visual detail to cultural significance with textual analysis. This is a passionate work of scholarship that will capture the minds of students and practitioners of Indigenous art." "A new landmark book celebrating Māori art has clocked up a couple of impressive firsts: not only is it the most comprehensive account of creative work by Indigenous New Zealanders ever published, it is also the first wide-ranging art history written entirely by Māori scholars. . . . The book traverses Māori creativity across time and locations – from ancient ocean-voyaging waka (canoe) to intricately carved treasure boxes held in international museums, painting and street art, digital film, protest flags and a Venice Biennale award-winning installation. The book also highlights forgotten artists and overlooked mediums such as Māori architecture." "This groundbreaking survey has been a decade in the making and is informed by the belief of the authors that 'a greater understanding of Māori art—by Māori and non-Māori—is essential for the survival of Māori culture.'" "This volume covers 800 years of Māori art, exploring a range of art practices including raranga (plaiting), whatu (weaving), moko (tattooing), and whakairo (carving). The volume, written by a trio of Māori art historians, took 12 years to complete and focuses on 'exploring the idea of Indigenous art histories that value Indigenous voices, perspective and objectives, making art history more relevant and less Eurocentric,' the authors say." "Extremely beautiful . . . A benchmark book that documents stories of resilience and endurance. . . . This book demonstrates that Māori art is about excellence." "Groundbreaking, monumental in scale, this is the most comprehensive survey of mahi toi ever created, from carving to textiles and digital art, written by experts in the field." "Very soon this book will become a taonga in its own right." "Toi Te Mana is a massive tome and an even greater achievement." "What a beautiful monster of a book. Not solely through its massive weight and plenitude of pages, but more significantly—indeed far more significantly—because of its inherent kaupapa." "A 600-page new book that took 12 years to create is set to reframe the history of Māori art. . . . Toi Te Mana is a whopper of a book, but it’s also beautiful and very readable. . . . In many cases the research is only just starting, with Toi Te Mana representing an important beginning to a new Aotearoa art history." "The recently published history of Māori art Toi Te Mana by Deidre Brown and Ngarino Ellis with Jonathon Mane-Wheoki, is a magnificent volume with intense scholarship and beautiful presentation 'written by, for, and about Māori'." "'One has to look back to look forward,' expert weaver Diggeress Te Kanawa once remarked. The massive new book Toi Te Mana does exactly this, exploring the deep history of Māori art, from its ancestral origins through to its contemporary expression, to provide context and inspiration for today’s Indigenous artists. . . . This book is by no means small, but it is certainly significant. A joy to read, and a valuable resource" “Toi te Mana is a bold and ambitious endeavour by our most experienced Māori art historians responding to a desperate need in New Zealand art education. A historical atlas encompassing the spectrum of Māori creativity, this work will certainly become a standard text of Māori art history and contribute to the global discourse on indigenous art histories in which Māori already hold a strong and distinctive position.” “This book is a comprehensive analysis that sets out to recalibrate the history of Māori art by rebalancing the gaps and Eurocentric focus of earlier writing. The format, with key chapters (kete) interspersed with breakout boxes focusing on specific artists and events, drives the kaupapa of the book forward, reinforcing a broadly chronological framework that nevertheless emphasises non-linearity, dynamism and change. The deployment of ancestral stories, chants and whakataukī to introduce chapters and sections draws together multiple strands to create a richly layered and relational landscape (whakapapa) for Māori arts. Ka mau te wehi! An outstanding contribution to Māori culture, arts and creativity – it is a great read.” “Toi Te Mana is a historic and groundbreaking text. It is an invaluable tool for Indigenous arts globally and represents ‘best practice’ in the field. The research and findings will be central to those of my generation and our students as we craft an Indigenous art history.” “This book provides an Indigenous account of Māori art, authored by Māori art historians, employing art historical methods, while highlighting its status as one of the foremost global art traditions. The authors hold considerable esteem in our field, which is reflected in the originality and irrefutable high level of scholarship of their work. They have integrated ancestral history and worldwide collections into a unified and meticulously researched and referenced book. The work is admirable in every respect.” "Toi Te Mana is a cultural feat ruminating on the luxurious depth and breadth of Māori art. From waka to painting to bodies, Brown, Ellis and Mane-Wheoki expertly fill each kete with insights, histories and analysis. This is a one-in-a-generation book." "Toi Te Mana is an outstanding publication that brings to fruition the work of two exceptional Māori scholars and their visionary collaborator, the late Māori art historian Jonathan Mane-Wheoki. The book is not only a landmark in Māori art history, it challenges us to reconceive the entire narrative of art and modernity from the perspective of Indigenous cultures worldwide." "A big, beautiful book full of fresh ideas. Reading the text is like hearing the taonga speak."