Maori Art Could Be Used In Our Homes

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 53, 25 May 1927, Page 12

Maori Art Could Be Used In Our Homes

Revival of Design DISTINCTIVE SCHOOL (Special to THE SUN. ) TT is the Maori element in New Zealand which has given us a distinctive place among the nations of the world, and by a judicious absorbing of Maori art into our schemes of house-building and decoration, we should be able to add to them more than a touch of beauty and charm. The proposal that a branch of the Maori Arts and Crafts School should be established at Wanganui is a particularly welcome one. It indicates that the tide of public opinion is turning in favour of the survival of those highly interesting forms of ancient culture which raised the indigenous inhabitants of our country to a far higher plane than almost any other native race. In matters of house construction and internal ornamentation New Zealand has made wonderful strides during the past 30 years. The neat bungalow, with its simple and convenient appointments, and its wide range of forms, has replaced the ugly old wooden house, with its dust-collecting fretwork ornaments on the verandahs. House-building and beautifying are now treated with considerable freedom and originality. It is only a step further to create a distinctly New Zealand School by adapting Maori art “motives” in our schemes. CONVENTIONAL ART Some will scout the idea of doing this, and say it is a reversion to savagery. They will say that the Maoris never carved a figure like a real human being, and that their patterns are crude and coarse. The fact is that the Maori artist revelled in the grotesque. He worked according to certain conventions, as all sane artists must do, but within his limits he exhibited a great play of fancy, and often much delicacy and beauty. Let anyone examine Hamilton’s book of Maori art, that splendid and priceless record of our native culture, and he must be struck by the grace and : beauty, for example, of the rafter patterns, the intricate weaving of the mats, and the quaint, fantastic tracery in the carved figures. Surely there is much of this that can be transplanted into our own household decoration, and it is surely worth while to revive the skill which produced so many remarkable things. —F.W.