NZ's cultural history shared stateside

Gottfried Lindauer's 1878 portrait of Pare Watene is one of 31 of his works on display in San Francisco.

Americans are about to get their first look at paintings by one of New Zealand's most important artists.

The first major exhibition in the United States of Maori portraits opens this weekend. A total of 31 paintings by Gottfried Lindauer go on display at the de Young art museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

The New Zealand Government has helped support the seven-month long exhibition which follows Auckland Art Gallery's The Maori Portraits: Gottfried Lindauer's New Zealand. It closed in February having attracted 99,167 visitors.

Gallery director Rhana Devenport says taking the portraits to the United States extends its mission to share New Zealand's cultural heritage and stimulate discussion. It has previously toured them to Berlin in 2014 and to Lindauer's home of Pilsen, in the Czech Republic, in 2015.

Rhana Devenport. Photo / Greg Bowker

"Through these encounters with art, we share our unique cultural identity and gain a deeper understanding of the world," says Devenport.

The finely detailed oil paintings, done between 1874 and 1903, depict Maori leaders, elders, warriors and politicians and capture their stories as well as the intercultural exchanges of the time.

Max Hollein, director and chief executive of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, says it is fascinating that a Czech painter, trained in the European style of 19th-century portraiture, became a celebrated portraitist of Maori in New Zealand.

"This unique exhibition will not only present the astonishing oeuvre of Lindauer but will also address the complexities of what a painting is and can be," says Hollein. "Maori see these paintings as living connections to the past and the remarkable life stories of their ancestors are remembered and shared by their descendants today through these paintings."

In April, Lindauer paintings worth $1 million were grabbed from the International Art Centre in Parnell by thieves who rammed a window before making off with two portraits - Chieftainess Ngatai-Raure and Chief Ngatai-Raure - ahead of their auction.

In July, Christopher Marinello, an expert on art recovery based in Italy, told the Herald he was not optimistic the thieves would be caught, but believed the works could still be recovered.

• The Maori Portraits: Gottfried Lindauer's New Zealand opens today in San Francisco and runs until April 1, 2018.