
Painting by numbers: creating a colonial masterpiece
William Strutt, View of Mt Egmont, Taranaki, New Zealand, taken from New Plymouth, with Maoris driving off settlers’ cattle, 1861, oil on canvas. Purchased 2015. Te Papa (2015-0042-1)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Open every day 10am-6pm
(except Christmas Day)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Ko tēnei whakaaturanga e tūhura ana i ngā āhuatanga rerekē o ngā ringatoi o Aotearoa ki te whakaatu i ō rātou hononga ki te whenua – ki ngā wāhi e noho nei tātou.
***
This exhibition explores the different ways that artists in Aotearoa have expressed their relationship to the land – to the places we live in.
8 Oct 2022 – 19 May 2024
Toi Art, Level 5
Free entry
All ages
Wheelchair accessible
Large print labels available in English and te reo Māori
Audio guide has transcripts
One artwork centrally on the floor, without barriers
Ki tā te Māori, ko te whenua me te whakapapa tōna hononga tāngaengae e mauroa ai te aronga matemate-ā-one i te takanga o te wā. Ko tā te Pākehā mahi he pōhewa mai i ngā whenua me ngā tohu rerekē e whakatakotohia ana e te ringatoi.
Kei tēnei whakaaturanga kitea ai te whenua hei whakaeminga, ‘he totoro whenua kua paparua ki te mahara, te tūmanako, me te whakaaro’ – arā, te hononga whenua me te hiahia whenua.
***
For Māori, whenua is a concept that connects land to whakapapa, providing a sense of belonging through time. The Western tradition of landscape painting offers an aesthetic response – views of the land represented and reimagined by artists.
Discover land as an accumulation, ‘a stretch of earth overlaid with memory, expectation, and thought’ – land as connection and desire.
Kī horipū (quote): kaituhi (author) Scott Russell Sanders, 1998
Header artwork: Tony de Lautour, Send off, 1999, oil and varnish on an old oil painting on paper mounted on board. Purchased 1999 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa (1999-0021-2)
Explore Hiahia Whenua | Landscape and Desire with our audio guide. Hear from curators, artists, and experts, as well as some unexpected characters.
William Strutt, View of Mt Egmont, Taranaki, New Zealand, taken from New Plymouth, with Maoris driving off settlers’ cattle, 1861, oil on canvas. Purchased 2015. Te Papa (2015-0042-1)
In April 2019, Te Papa acquired a rare, early oil painting by William Hodges, artist on Captain Cook’s second voyage, titled Waterfall in Dusky Bay with Maori Canoe. Here, Te Papa tour host Bill Whelen reflects upon his journeys into Dusky Sound, and finding the exact location of Te Papa’s newly acquired painting.
Messenger Sisters, Landscape with settlers, about 1857, oil on board. Purchased 1999 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa (1999-0003-1)