Word: maoriness
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Dominating the show by its size (16 ft. 5½ in.) and superabundance of ihi, wehi and wana is the figure that once served as the gateway of Pukeroa pa, a fortified village. Though it is difficult to date most Maori sculpture precisely, this piece was made in the mid-19th century. Less fierce than similar gateway figures, the figure still casts a gaze threatening enough to intimidate any potential thief prowling through the Maori show...
Sadly, however, the proud masculine presence of the figure from Pukeroa pa has been diminished by the intervention of 19th century missionaries. The clerics wanted the genitalia removed from Maori sculptures. Many ancestral figures remained demonstrably unscathed, but others were particularly hard hit, like the celebrated Kahungunu, who was known throughout his tribe for the size of his sexual equipment. At the Metropolitan, he may be seen pointing pridefully to the tip of his long-vanished penis...
...most aggressive figures were carved on waka tupapaku, or wooden burial chests that Maori mourners upended in caves to scare off intruders. As cannily lit by the Metropolitan, the waka tupapaku from North Island glowers in the shadows with unearthly menace. But terror is not the only emotion the piece is intended to convey. The figure's stylized arms calmly repose upon its protuberant belly, as if to reassure the person whose bones are contained within...
...Maori master carvers did not always create objects of massive size or religious significance. They could show a unique touch with such humble household necessities as the fishhook. The curve of the shank was obtained by training a branch of a living tree. When the hook was to be used by a man of high rank, it was topped with a dainty head. The deadliest of the Maori weapons, the sharp-sided club used in hand-to-hand fighting, is of similarly graceful design. Both categories of artwork bear an eerie resemblance to the 3000 B.C. figurines from the Cycladic...
Though Americans have reason to be grateful to the Maoris for entrusting their sacred treasures to the care of foreign museums, the tribesmen themselves take scarcely any credit for the marvels wrought by their artists over a thousand years. One traditional Maori poet declares, "The authority, the awe, the divine and the artistry,/ I inherited these gifts from my ancestors.'' -By Patricia Blake