Painted Histories: Early Maori Figurative Painting by Roger Neich.

Painted Histories: Early Maori Figurative Painting by Roger Neich.

Publisher: Auckland University Press, 1994.

Good hardback with jacket. No inscriptions, binding firm. Minor marks, a little bumping to edges. End-papers are quite foxed, small tear to last paste down, but the rest of the pages are very good. Jacket has slight shelf-wear with some fading to front cover.

330 pages, illustrated.

This volume explores the flowering of figurative painting in the decoration of Maori meeting houses in the latter half of the 19th century. Not practised in traditional Maori culture, figurative painting developed in response to missionary criticism of Maori church decoration. Later, several distinctive figurative painting traditions developed. Decoration of the meeting house was transformed in many striking and beautiful ways to give visual expression to new tribal histories and the experience of land alienation. This creative period did not last, and was superseded in the early 20th century by a return to orthodox art-forms. The author analyzes the theory and practice of this art and describes the figurative painting of more than 80 meeting houses. The text is illustrated throughout and includes maps, diagrams and sketches.

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