John Daly-Peoples reviews

The Carver and the Artist, Maori Art in the Twentieth Century by Damien Skinner
Auckland University Pres
RRP $89.99

Damien Skinners account of Maori Art in the twentieth century is an attempt to understand what often appears to be the rupture between the traditional carving practice of Maori and the contemporary forms of Maori art.
The book focuses on two artists Tuti Tukaokao who began carving in the 1950’s and Lyonel Grant whose career as a carver began in the late 1980’s
On the one hand one is a carver who refers to the past the ancestors and an impenetrable spirituality. On the other is the Maori artist who uses traditional motifs, symbols and narratives to make political social and personal comment.

Skinner argues that these two threads are mutually inclusive, that Maori Modernism cannot be fully comprehended without being aware of the customary practice which came before.
The book also traces the growth of art over the last century with the importance of Sir Apirana Ngata and the development of the Rotorua School of Maori Arts and Crafts. He also includes the other master carvers such as Hone Taipa and Paki Harrison and discusses the role of the innovators such as Arnold Wilson, Buck Nin and Paratene Matchitt.

The well illustrated book features a number of major commissions by Maori artists including the remarkable fusion carvings of Lyonel Grant at Ihenga and Tuti Tukaokao’s strangely inappropriate carvings at the McDonalds in Rotorua.

This review was first published in NBR 28 March.