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 West Bohemian Gallery from 6 May
to 20 September 2015. The exhibition is organised by the West Bohemian Gallery 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 West Bohemian Gallery in Pilsen is preparing the first retrospective exhibition of
Gottfried Lindauer at an international level and in cooperation with the Auckland Art Gallery, which
owns the largest and finest collection of Lindauer’s works created in New Zealand. This involves
loaning 44 of his artworks that have never travelled to Europe before. The vernissage of the
exhibition will be inaugurated by a traditional Maori ritual accompanying the sunrise, where
Haerewa representatives will, 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 entire collection, including pieces from Czech state, church and private collections,
thus showing work created before he even left for 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 proud
of 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 enabled a reduction in the high costs of the exhibition, thanks to sharing
expenses 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 19th century art are 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, which determined 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 West Bohemian Gallery in Pilsen is preparing the first
retrospective exhibition of Gottfried Lindauer at an international level and in cooperation with the
Auckland Art Gallery, which owns the largest and finest collection of Lindauer’s works created in New
Zealand. This involves loaning 44 of his artworks that 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:
www.mzv.cz/sydney/cz/kultura_a_udalosti/ministr_schwarzenberg_prijal_ministra.html). Support for
this project was also promised by the former New Zealand Ambassador to countries of Central Europe,
Peter Rider, who visited the West Bohemian Gallery 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 2015 project. “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 publication Roman Musil (West Bohemian Gallery in Pilsen)
Aleš Filip (Masaryk University)
Curator of the exhibition
Eva Reitspiesová, in cooperation with Petra Kočová (West
Bohemian Gallery)
Graphic artist of the exhibition
Robert V. Novák
Architect of the exhibition
Zbyněk 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 West Bohemian Gallery
in Pilsen
+420 731 474 266
reitspiesova@zpc-galerie.cz
Mirka Reifová – PR for Pilsen 2015
+420 606 090 801
reifova@plzen2015.cz