The Fascinating Story of Gottfried Lindauer and His Portraits of Maori Chiefs Is the Major

The fascinating story of Gottfried Lindauer and his portraits of Maori chiefs is the major exhibition of the European Capital of Culture

Nearly 50 portraits of New Zealand Maori return the spirit of their creator to his hometown in the most expensive and most demanding exhibition project in Pilsen’s history.For the first time in their history, the management board of the Haerewa, consisting of representatives of individual Maori tribes who are in charge of managing Maori art, have allowed this national treasure to leave the country of its origin.It will be introduced to visitors in the Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen from 6May to 20September 2015.The exhibition is organised by the Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen in cooperation with the Auckland Art Gallery, the prestigious Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the National Museum – Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures, the West Bohemian Museum in Pilsen and other institutions.

"Even the preparation itself is very sensitive and demanding – we are bringing a New Zealand national treasure to Pilsen,and this corresponds with a great deal of care and interest from the Maori side. The Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen is preparing the first retrospective exhibition of Gottfried Lindauer at aninternational level and in cooperation with the AucklandArtGallery, which owns the largest and finest collection of Lindauer’s works created in New Zealand. This involves loaning 44 of his artworksthat have never travelled to Europe before. The vernissage of the exhibition will be inaugurated by a traditional Maori ritual accompanying the sunrise, where Haerewarepresentativeswill, with the sound of prayers and chants as well as with the haka, prepare the space for their ancestors," explains the Director of the West Bohemian Gallery, Roman Musil.

In addition to Maori portraits, the exhibition in Pilsen will present this profile of the painter Gottfried Lindauer as an entirecollection, including pieces from Czech state, church and private collections, thus showing work created before he evenleftfor New Zealand.

"This challenging and extensive project proves how the title of European Capital of Culture helps cultural institutions in Pilsen to rise to the European level. Even the National Gallery would be proudof such an exhibition. Moreover, it would not be possible without the European Capital of Culture,considering the budget we are working with. At the same time, however, it requires a high level of expertise and professionalism from the organising institution, which the West Bohemian Gallery, under the leadership of Roman Musil, undoubtedly has at its disposal. International cooperation with the Berlin gallery has also enableda reduction in the high costs of the exhibition,thanks to sharingexpenses for transportation and insurance,” says the Programme Director of Pilsen 2015, Jiří Sulženko.

Gottfried Lindauer belongs among a select group of Czech artists with extremely interesting lives. In 1874, he left for New Zealand, where he became renowned as an excellent painter of the original Maori ethnicity, and nowadays he is considered to be one of the most popular artists of what is referred to as the colonial period. In the Czech scene, however,only a rather narrow group of specialists dedicated to 19thcentury artare familiar with his work. His most appreciated portraits are of famous tribal chiefs who took part in the Anglo-Maori wars from the 1840s to 1860s and became a symbol of the lingering era of the old New Zealand. Lindauer portrayed them in hieratic postures, in ceremonial costumes, with weapons and amulets and especially with the typical tattoos on their faces and elsewhere on their bodies, whichdetermined their personal and tribal identity.

Even from New Zealand, where he lived until his death in 1926,Lindauer maintained frequent contact with the Czech milieu.He occasionally also sent items relating to the lives of the indigenous Maori,mainly to the Náprstek Museum in Prague. The Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen is preparing the first retrospective exhibition of Gottfried Lindauer at an international level and in cooperation with the AucklandArtGallery, which owns the largest and finest collection of Lindauer’s works created in New Zealand. This involves loaning 44 of his artworksthat have never travelled to Europe before (another 4 pieces will be loaned from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington). “The loan was also subject to the approval of the management board of the Haerewa, consisting of representatives of individual Maori tribes who are in charge of managing Maori art. We obtained this approval during our work visit to the gallery in autumn 2013,” explains the Director of the West Bohemian Gallery in Pilsen, Roman Musil.

In the Czech scene, Lindauer’s work is substantiated by only a few examples, especially in the Roman Catholic Parish in Valašské Klobouky, in the West Bohemia Museum in Pilsen and in the National Museum – Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures. The exhibition project has had the moral support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2013, when official dialogue on this topic was initiated between the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg and his New Zealand counterpart Murray McCully (see the link on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Support for this project was also promised by the former New ZealandAmbassador to countries of Central Europe, Peter Rider, who visited the Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen for this purpose in September 2013.

The main partner of the project is the Auckland Art Gallery, which is supplying most of the displayed works.

The story of Gottfried Lindauer has inspired other artists, who are preparing an accompanying programme for the exhibition as part of the European Capital of Culture 2015project. “The emigration of Czechs to New Zealand is also presented in an interactive exhibition in Papírna, prepared by Pavel Anděl as part of an investigation into the fate of Stod’s inhabitants. Bearing in mind that one of the main themes of the project Pilsen 2015 is “Transit and Minorities", we asked eight contemporary painters to use the work of Lindauer as an inspiration and to prepare a separate exhibition of portraits of minorities living with us in Pilsen.” adds the Programme Director of Pilsen 2015, Jiří Sulženko.

Team of authors

Authors of the exhibition and the accompanying publicationRoman Musil (GalleryofWest Bohemia in Pilsen)

Aleš Filip (Masaryk University)

Curator of the exhibitionEva Reitspiesová, in cooperation with Petra Kočová (GalleryofWestBohemia in Pilsen)

Graphic artist of the exhibitionRobert V. Novák

Architect of the exhibitionZbyněk Baladrán

Cooperation on the publication accompanying the exhibition

Leonard Bell (University of Auckland, New Zealand)

Lada Vacková-Hubatová (Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague)

Ngahiraka Mason (Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand)

Milan Kreuzzieger (Centre of Global Studies in Prague)

Tomas Winter (Institute of Art History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic)

Loaning institutions

Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand

National Museum – Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures

West Bohemian Museum in Pilsen

Roman Catholic Parish Valašské Klobouky

Media contacts:

Eva Reitspiesová– PR for the Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen

+420 731 474 266

Mirka Reifová– PR for Pilsen 2015

+420 606 090801

reifova@plzen2015