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| ARTIST: | Charles Frederick Goldie |
| DATES: | New Zealand 1870 - 1947 |
| TITLE: | Forty Winks: Rutene Te Uamairangi |
| MEDIUM: | Oil on canvas |
| SIZE: | 44 x 38 cm |
| REMARKS: |
Signed & dated 1939 Inscribed verso: ‘A Kingite Warrior of Taupo, Forty Winks Rutene Te Uamairangi’ Exhibited: Wairarapa Art Exhibition, September 1962 Provenance: Olive Goldie Collection until 1948; Collection of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa |
| $NZ: | Category G |
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Forty Winks is the only known work by Goldie of Rutene Te Uamairangi, a Kingite Warrior of Taupo. This is noteworthy as Goldie typically painted more than one version of his subjects. Te Uamairangi was also painted by Thomas Darby Ryan, a fellow student of Goldie’s in Paris. The Kingite Warriors were of the Māori King Movement (Kīngitanga) that arose among some of the Māori tribes in the 1850s to establish a symbolic role similar in status to that of the monarch of the colonising British as a way of halting the alienation of Māori land. In this full frontal portrait, the resting warrior bears Māoridom’s powerful symbols of integrity, identity and mana. The moko (tattoo) conveys his ancestral history and tribal affiliations whilst making the warrior fierce in battle. The hand-woven cloak is a mantle of honour and like the greenstone, or pounamu tiki, a revered and treasured possession. Here, the tiki is worn close to the throat to absorb the life force of its wearer. |
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