Among the display items were a gold breast pendant from Panama, dating between 400 B.C. and 400 A.D., which would have been a burial gift, and a Maori hei-tiki pendant in jade, from New Zealand, dated 1887.
|
|
Pounamu (greenstone) hei tiki ornamented with paua (abalone) shell and pigments, 1500-1850.
|
|
Hinepare, a woman of the Ngāti Kahungunu tribe, wearing a hei-tiki Hei-tiki; circa 18th century; nephrite and haliotis shell; height: 10.9 cm (4 in.); from New Zealand; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA) The hei-tiki () is an ornamental pendant of the Māori of New Zealand. Hei-tiki are usually made of pounamu (greenstone), and are considered a taonga (treasure) by Māori. They are commonly called tiki by New Zealanders, a term that actually refers to large human figures carved in wood and to the small wooden carvings used to mark sacred places. (The word hei in Māori can mean "to wear around the neck".) Retailers sell tourist versions of hei-tiki throughout New Zealand—these can be made from jade, other types of stone, plastic, or other materials.
|
|
Hei Tiki was released in 1935, with a NY Times review describing the plot as being about a "chieftain's daughter who is declared tabu and destined to be the bride of the war god", attributing the title to mean "love charm" (a Hei-tiki pendant interpretation). The crime writer Ngaio Marsh gives prominence to an amuletic hei-tiki (which she calls simply a tiki) in her 1937 novel Vintage Murder. She emphasises its aspect as a promoter of fertility.
|
|
Traditionally there were several types of hei-tiki which varied widely in form. Modern-day hei-tiki, however, may be divided into two types. The first type is rather delicate with a head/body ratio of approximately 30/70 and small details such as ears, elbows and knees. The head is on a tilt, with one hand placed on the thigh, and the other on the chest.
|
|
One theory of the origin of the hei-tiki suggests a connection with Tiki, the first man in Māori legend. According to Horatio Gordon Robley, there are two main ideas behind the symbolism of hei- tiki: they are either memorials to ancestors, or represent the goddess of childbirth, Hineteiwaiwa. The rationale behind the first theory is that they were often buried when their kaitiaki (guardian) died and retrieved later to be placed somewhere special and brought out in times of tangihanga (mourning and associated activities). Because of the connection with Hineteiwaiwa, hei- tiki were often given to a woman by her husband's family if she was having trouble conceiving.
|
|
From the size and style of traditional examples of hei-tiki, it is likely that the stone was first cut in the form of a small adze. The tilted head of the pitau variety of hei-tiki derives from the properties of the stone - its hardness and great value make it important to minimize the amount of the stone that has to be removed. Creating a hei-tiki with traditional methods is a long, arduous process during which the stone is smoothed by abrasive rubbing; finally, using sticks and water, it is slowly shaped and the holes bored out. After laborious and lengthy polishing, the completed pendant is suspended by a plaited cord and secured by a loop and toggle.
|
|
Hei Tiki, also known as Primitive Passions and Hei Tiki: A Saga of the Maoris, is a 1935 American mock documentary film made in New Zealand by the eccentric Alexander Markey and released (with sound added) in America. The film gained notoriety in America for having scenes of nudity cut in various states. Markey directed and produced the film, also writing the screenplay and the "native melodies". His girlfriend Zoe Varney was credited as associate producer.
|
|
Named varieties include translucent green kahurangi, whitish inanga, semi-transparent kawakawa, and tangiwai or bowenite. A 2014 thesis by Dougal Austin supervised by Peter Adds, based on a survey of the collection of hei-tiki at Te Papa Tongarewa and early-contact examples in foreign collections, found that the mana of hei tiki is derived from the "agency of prolonged ancestral use" and stylistically was "highly developed ... from the outset to conform to adze-shaped pieces of pounamu." Examples of hei-tiki are found in museum collections around the world. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (over 200) and the British Museum (about 50) have two of the largest collections, many of which were exchanged or gifted to European travellers and sailors at the earliest point of contact between the two cultures.
|
|
Robley, author of A History of the Maori Tiki, suggested a similarity of some tiki to images of Buddha, which were often fashioned in green jade. He believed they may have been a forgotten memory of these, in debased form. The most valuable hei-tiki are carved from pounamu which is either nephrite or bowenite (Māori: tangiwai). Pounamu is esteemed highly by Māori for its beauty, toughness and great hardness; it is used not only for ornaments such as hei-tiki and ear pendants, but also for carving tools, adzes and weapons.
|
|
Movies leading up to this period included White Shadows in the South Seas (1928), The Love Trader (1928), and Bird of Paradise (1932). Beach frequently interacted with movie stars, inviting them to his home for luau-like dinners and becoming friends with actors such as Clark Gable. Hei Tiki was released in 1935, with a NY Times review describing the plot as being about "a chieftain's daughter who is declared tabu and destined to be the bride of the war god". It attributed the title to mean "love charm", in reference to Hei-tiki pendants sometimes associated with fertility.
|
|
This took the form of adzes worked with iron tools into pendants, or hei-tiki. Archaeologists have identified these as being produced for a European export trade.Skinner, 1966, p.10; Hamel, 2001, p.52. An 1819 editorial in the Sydney Gazette described the trade, saying it was carried on by ‘groupes of sealers’.
|
|
Both stone and bone were used to create jewellery such as the hei-tiki. Large scale stone face carvings were also sometimes created. The introduction of metal tools by Europeans allowed more intricacy and delicacy, and caused stone and bone fish hooks and other tools to become purely decorative. Carving is traditionally a tapu activity performed by men only.
|
|
The Wagon and the Star (or Waggon with 2x g) is a 1936 New Zealand film by producer and director J.J.W. Pollard, who also wrote the screenplay. Only one reel of the film and some out-takes survive. The handbuilt camera used was built by Ted Coubray and "confiscated" by Alexander Markey on the set of Hei Tiki.
|
|
He wrote an adventure novel about pre-Pakeha Māori life, Plume of the Arawas, which was published in 1930 and in a second edition in 1938. He supported the 1935 film Hei Tiki by encouraging member of Ngāti Tūwharetoa to become cast members, and backed Whina Cooper and other Northland Māori leaders' project to build a waka to mark the centennial of the Treaty of Waitangi.
|
|
He had obtained £10,000 from New Zealand investors, and borrowed taonga or cherished tribal artifacts from the Māori cast. He had fired Alfred Hill who was to write the music, and Ted Coubray the original cameraman, but sold Coubray's camera to his rivals the Welsh brothers. A 1935 New York Times review of Hei Tiki says that Merkey had been a lecturer and editor.
|
|
The installation was completed by two Edwardian display cases filled with personal taonga such as hei=tiki, barkcloth, tattooing tools and hand clubs, all selected from the museum's collections but displayed without labels, as if in a domestic arrangement rather than a museum setting. The Living Room became a part of the exhibition that visitors would linger and relax in, a 'comfortable and familial interactive space'.
|
|
These include the kiwi and the hei- tiki. Kiwiana is generally seen as a form of kitsch. A number of products widely regarded as Kiwiana, such as Wattie's tomato sauce, Marmite and L&P;, are made by non-New Zealand companies. In some cases, this is because the original New Zealand company has been purchased by an overseas corporation, in others the product has always been made by an international firm.
|
|
In 1815 William Tucker settled at Whareakeake, later Murdering Beach, where he kept goats and sheep, had a Māori wife and apparently fostered an export trade in greenstone hei-tiki. After a time he left and returned on the Sophia, a Hobart Town sealer commanded by James Kelly. In 1817 Kelly anchored in Otago Harbour. The local chief Korako failed to ferry over Māori from Whareakeake who wanted to receive their share of Tucker's gifts.
|
|
Sketch of a hei-tiki, from John White, 'The Ancient History of the Maori'' White was employed by the government of New Zealand to compile a complete history of the Māori traditions; he had completed six volumes at the time of his death. They appeared in 1889 with the title The Ancient History of the Maori (Wellington). He was also author of a novelette, entitled Te Rou, Or, The Māori at Home (1874).
|
|
Down on the Farm is a 1935 New Zealand film. It was New Zealand's first sound feature.Down on the Farm at Film Archive accessed 12 September 2013 It is one of four films which lay claim to be the first "New Zealand talkie"; however The Devil's Pit and Hei Tiki had sound added in America, and On the Friendly Road was not released until 1936. Little footage and no script of the film has survived.
|
|
It is a very common form in Maori jewellery (possibly only less common than the hei-tiki and hei matau), and is often found worn as a pendant carved from bone or greenstone. Manaia designs vary subtly in form between iwi, though they are often depicted as three-fingered, with these digits representing the trinity of birth, life, and death. A fourth finger, representing the circular rhythms of the life cycle and the afterlife, is also sometimes shown.
|
|
Vintage Murder is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the fifth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1937. Based in New Zealand, the plot centres on a travelling theatrical troupe and prominently features Doctor Rangi Te Pokiha a Māori, and a "tiki" (hei-tiki) a Māori fertility pendant. One of the cast members was a minor character in Enter a Murderer, and refers to that case early in the story.
|
|
Portrait of Hinepare of Ngāti Kahungunu (1890) by Gottfried Lindauer, showing chin moko, pounamu hei-tiki and woven cloak. New Zealand art consists of the visual and plastic arts (including architecture, woodwork, textiles, and ceramics) originating from New Zealand. It comes from different traditions: indigenous Māori art, that of the early European (or Pākehā) settlers, and later immigrants from Pacific, Asian, and European countries. Owing to New Zealand's geographic isolation, in the past many artists had to leave home in order to make a living.
|
|
So the film was made as Under the Southern Cross by Lew Collins. Two years later and described as "somewhat eccentric" Markey then returned for the making of Hei Tiki; originally a silent film, which was released in 1935 with music and voice-over added in America. The film was shot in Waihi. When shooting was finished Markey left for America with “the film footage, many of the artifacts he had borrowed from Māori, a great many unpaid bills, and his partner Zoe Varney”.
|
|
New Zealand took part in all three major naval actions in the North Sea: at Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank and Jutland. She also contributed to the sinking of two cruisers.McDougall (1989) Page 15. Throughout these battles the captain wore a Māori piupiu (a warrior's skirt of rolled flax) and a greenstone hei- tiki, given to the ship by an old chieftain in 1913 with the injunction that they were always to be worn by the captain of the New Zealand when she was fighting.
|
|
Māori hei-tiki, 1500-1800, jade (nephrite), from New Zealand, Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (Paris) Jewellery making in the Pacific started later than in other areas, due to relatively recent human settlement. Early Polynesian jewellery, which was made of bone, wood and other natural materials, has not survived. The precise start of island jewellery-making is difficult to pinpoint, due to many of the island nations' founders migrating there from other areas, such as Tahiti. Most Pacific jewellery is worn above the waist.
|
|
13 The vehicles of each patrol adopted their own markings. The New Zealand 'R' Patrol used a green Hei-tiki with a red tongue painted on the right side of the bonnet of the vehicle, and on the left a Māori place name beginning with the letter 'R' (for example, 'Rotowaro').Jenner and List 1999, pp.24–32 The 'T' Patrol vehicles had a black Kiwi over green 'grass' and a Māori name starting with 'Te' (for example, 'Te Anau') in the corresponding places.
|
|
Youle's Often Liked, Occasionally Beaten (2004), consisting of multi-coloured resin tiki (the figure of the first man) on lollipop sticks, comments on the commercialisation of Maori taonga, mass production of Maori souvenirs and the cultural appropriation of Maori art. (Since the 1960s, plastic hei tiki have become a part of New Zealand popular culture, often regarded as one of the great kiwiana icons). The title of the work is a political play on the local Frosty Boy ice cream marketing catchphrase, Often liked, never beaten while alluding to the social issue of family violence.
|
|
Portrait of Hinepare of alt=Refer to caption Māori cloaks are made of fine flax fibre and patterned with black, red and white triangles, diamonds and other geometric shapes. Greenstone was fashioned into earrings and necklaces, with the most well-known design being the hei-tiki, a distorted human figure sitting cross-legged with its head tilted to the side. Europeans brought English fashion etiquette to New Zealand, and until the 1950s most people dressed up for social occasions. Standards have since relaxed and New Zealand fashion has received a reputation for being casual, practical and lacklustre.
|
|
The tourist industry has also made heavy use of Māori culture in an effort to present tourists with distinctly New Zealand experiences and items. Many Pākehā in other countries use an aspect of Māori culture to express their New Zealandness. An example of this is the mass haka which takes place in Parliament Square in London every Waitangi Day. Although Māori are generally involved, most participants are Pākehā (See Hei-tiki.) For many years Pākehā did not consult Māori over the use of their culture, and Māori generally did not protest loudly unless a symbol was being used in a particularly inappropriate way.
|
|
Following the formation of the First Labour Government in 1935, the two Rātana MPs agreed to vote with Labour. This alliance was formalised with the Rātana movement joining the Labour Party in a meeting between Rātana and Prime Minister Michael Savage on 22 April 1936. The Prime Minister was given four symbolic gifts: a potato, a broken gold watch, a pounamu hei-tiki, and a huia feather. The potato represented loss of Māori land and means of sustenance, the broken watch represented the broken promises of the Treaty of Waitangi, and the pounamu represented the mana of the Māori people.
|
|
The styles and types of jewellery in the Pacific changes greatly from island to island, as does the purpose of wearing it. As in most cultures, jewellery in the Pacific is worn to symbolise the wearer's power, whether it be wealth or victory in battle. Jewellery in the Pacific, with the exception of Australia, is worn to be a symbol of either power, but in many cases across the Pacific, jewellery is worn to show fertility. As a prime example, the hei-tiki of the New Zealand Māori is said to be a sign of fertility.
|
|
On the Friendly Road is a 1936 film from New Zealand which told a story of New Zealand in the depression.L. R. Shelton. 'Hayward, Rudall Charles Victor - Biography', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10 accessed 22 November 2012On the Friendly Road at the New Zealand Film Project accessed 22 November 2012 It is one of four films made in 1935 (with The Devil's Pit, Down on the Farm, and Hei Tiki) which lay claim to be the first "New Zealand talkie", although dubiously, as the film was not released until 1936.
|
|
Edwin "Ted" Coubray (19 October 1900 - 10 December 1997) was a New Zealand projectionist, filmmaker and inventor. He was born in Eastern Bush, Southland, New Zealand, and died in Homebush, Sydney. He retired to Australia in 1973 after Auckland Cinemas, for which he was working, closed the Tudor Cinema in Remuera. He directed and produced Carbine's Heritage (1927); and was involved as cameraman, photography or continuous printer in The Birth of New Zealand (1922), Rewi's Last Stand (1925), The Adventures of Algy (1925), The Romance of Maoriland (1930), Hei Tiki (1935) (although he was fired by the eccentric producer Alexander Markey, who also sold his camera to his rivals, the Welsh brothers), and Rewi's Last Stand (1940).
|
|
Heavily laden Chevrolets of 'R1' Patrol setting out from Jalo oasis in 1942. The unit insignia of a Māori Hei- Tiki can just be seen on the bonnet of the lead vehicle, which carries its individual number "R4" on a dark square on the right fender. When the LRDG was based at Siwa, they took part in what has since become known as the 'Road Watch' along the Via Balbia (the Tripoli to Benghazi road). Three patrols were engaged on road watch duties at any one time, with one watching the road for a week to 10 days, another would be en route to relieve them and the third was returning to Siwa after having been relieved.
|
|
The body of the piupiu is usually made from flax leaves that are carefully prepared with the muka or flax fibre exposed in some sections to cause geometric patterns to emerge. The unscraped leaves will curl naturally into tubes as the leaves dry, and make a percussion sound when the wearer sways or moves. The geometric patterns can be emphasised through dyeing as the dye will soak more into the exposed fibres rather than the dried raw leaf. The captain of HMS New Zealand, a battlecruiser funded in 1911 by the government of New Zealand for the defence of the British Empire and which took an active part in three battles of the First World War, wore into battle a piupiu (as well as a hei-tiki, Māori traditional pendant).
|
|
Under the Southern Cross also known as The Devil's Pit or Taranga, is a 1929 American drama film set in New Zealand, directed by Lew Collins for Universal Studios, who also wrote the screenplay. Originally titled Taranga by the original director Alexander Markey, but was completed by Collins and released as Under the Southern Cross in 1929, then with the introduction of sound was given a soundtrack and retitled The Devil’s Pit in 1930. The film was shot on White Island, which has an active volcano. It is one of four films (with Down on the Farm, Hei Tiki and On the Friendly Road) which lay claim to be the first "New Zealand talkie", although dubious as the sound was added to the 1930 release in the United States.
|
|
New Zealand was sent on a ten-month flag-waving tour of New Zealand via South Africa in 1913. During this tour, the ship was seen by an estimated half- million New Zealanders—almost half the population—and her captain was presented with a Māori piupiu"Maori Chiefs Visit Warship", 18 April 1913, Evening Post"An historic piupiu" , TeAra (a warrior's skirt made from rolled flax) and a greenstone hei-tiki (pendant), which were intended to ward off evil. The Admiralty requested that New Zealand return to the United Kingdom when the tour concluded, rather than remain in the Pacific region as originally planned. The New Zealand Government acceded to the request and, upon her arrival on 8 December 1913, New Zealand joined the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron (1st BCS) of the Grand Fleet.
|
|
This contentious work depicted the Four Square man with facial moko, which offended some viewers. Frizzell became known for his use of Tiki in his works. One of his famous pieces 'Goofy Tiki Study' is now in the care of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Goofy Tiki Study is a Gouache and pencil on paper work, that depicts a stylised hei tiki with large lettering proclaiming “Goofy Tiki”. The work responds to the wealth of ‘low’ art produced for tourism that can be found all throughout New Zealand, that appropriates and exploits Maori art imagery while ignoring the deeper symbolism and cultural significance. In this work Frizzell is creating a study for a series of ‘low’ art paintings he created to fill the so-called void in the art world at the time.
|
|
These collectives have begun creating and exporting jewellery (such as bone carved pendants based on traditional fishhooks hei matau and other greenstone jewellery) and other artistic items (such as wood carvings and textiles). Several actors who have recently appeared in high- profile movies filmed in New Zealand have come back wearing such jewellery, including Viggo Mortensen of The Lord of the Rings fame who took to wearing a hei matau around his neck. These trends have contributed towards a worldwide interest in traditional Māori culture and arts such as Kiri Nathan including pounamu jewellery in her 2013 London Fashion Week exhibition The Captain of HMS New Zealand, a battle cruiser funded in 1911 by the government of New Zealand for the defence of the British Empire and which took an active part in three battles of the First World War, wore into battle a hei-tiki (as well as a piupiu, Māori warrior's skirt). The crew attributed to this the New Zealand being a "lucky ship" which sustained no casualties during the entire war.
|
|