Māori painting by Goldie fetches record price

[Pelican Press 0]

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Māori painting by Goldie fetches record price

An oil painting of a Māori elder has fetched a record price at an auction on Tuesday, making it the most valuable artwork of its kind in New Zealand history.

The painting by famed local artist Charles Frederick Goldie, shows a portrait of Wharekauri Tahuna, a priest who is believed to be one of the last tattooed men of his generation.

The NZ$3.75m ($2.2m; $1.7m) ***** also marks the highest price ever paid for a painting at auction in New Zealand, according to the auction house.

It comes at a point of increased ******* tensions in New Zealand over Māori rights, with the government having recently put forth a bill that Māoris said would hurt their rights.

Thoughts of a Tohunga was painted nine years before Goldie ***** in 1947, with art critics believing it was his best work.

It depicts the priest with a moko, or facial tattoo, and wearing a pendant known as a hei-tiki around his neck.

The *****, to an undisclosed buyer, makes it the most valuable Māori portrait in New Zealand art history.

“Goldie was well loved by Māori during his lifetime, [he] lived in Auckland and met his subjects,” Richard Thomson, director at the International Art Centre told the BBC, adding that this was the first time the painting had gone on ***** in 33 years.

“New Zealanders have an affinity with their history and portraits by Goldie have always been sought after,” he said, adding that since 2016 his auction house has sold 13 Goldie paintings, with buyers paying more than a million New Zealand dollars each time.

Wharekauri Tahuna was one of Goldie’s favourite subjects and featured in a number of his works.

Māoris make up about 18% of New Zealand’s population, though many remain disadvantaged compared to the general population when assessed through markers such as health outcomes, household income, education levels and incarceration and mortality rates. There ******** a seven-year gap in life expectancy.

Last week, a political party sought to pass a bill that would reintepret the country’s founding treaty with Māori people, known as the Treaty of Waitangi.

Thousands of people joined a nine-day march against the bill, which eventually ******* to pass.

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