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Kōrero: Hotere, Hone Papita Raukura (Ralph)

Whārangi 1: Haurongo

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Hōtere, Hone Papita Raukura (Ralph)

1931–2013

Te Aupōuri; ringatoi

I tuhia tēnei haurongo e Megan Tamati-Quennell, ā, i tāngia tuatahitia ki Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau i te 2019. He mea whakamāori nā Te Haumihiata Mason.

Ko Ralph Hōtere tētahi o ngā ringatoi tino hira katoa o Aotearoa i ngā tau tōmuri o te rautau rua tekau. I tīmata ia hei kaipeita me te kaha anō o ana mahi tā, i muri mai ka tahuri ki te tārai me te toi puni. Ko ana mahi i whakaatu i te toi wairua tūrehurehu, me te kaha o tana whakamahi i te pango, i te rīpeka, i te porowhita me te rārangi, me te komokomo atu i te tāhuatanga, te tuhinga o te kupu a te kaitito toikupu. He maha ana mahi tōmuri i mahi tahi ai ia ki a Bill Culbert, te ringatoi mahi ki te rama. I rongonui a Hōtere mō tana whakamahi taputapu hiko me te whai i te tikanga toi ahumahi i āna mahi toi, mō tana whakamahi auaha i te rauemi me tana pai hoki, e ai ki te kaitito toikupu, a Ian Wedde, ki te whakaatu i ‘te atamai kei roto i te hanga noa’.1 Ko te whakatupuhia ōna ki te hāhi Katorika me te ao Māori i te tūāpapa o ana mahi maha tonu, e rite nei te whakahē i te tūkino tangata, i te pakanga, i te takahia o te mōtika tangata, te pēhitanga iwi me ngā aituā nui i te ao ahumahi me te taiao. I whakanohoia mai ia e te tumu kōrero Toi, e Jonathan Mane-Wheoki, ‘ki mua tonu o ngā hītori toi o Aotearoa. Engari kei waho anō ia e tū mai ana, he Māori ka tahi, ka mutu, ko ia tētahi o ngā ringatoi wheako whānui katoa, huatau katoa, mātanga katoa, e mōhiotia ana i te ao katoa, kua puta i Aotearoa.’2

Tau tōmua

I whānau mai a Hōtere ki Taikarawa, tētahi kāinga Māori iti kei waenga i ngā tarawaha ki ngā whanga o Hokianga me Whāngāpē, i te 11 o Ākuhata 1931. Ko ia tētahi o ētahi tamariki 11 i whānau mai ki a Ana Maria Daniels rāua ko tana tāne, a Tangirau Kirimete Hōtere. Ko ōna tātai nō Te Aupōuri, ka tapaina ko Hone Papita Raukura ki a Jean Baptiste François Pompallier, te pīhopa Wīwī nāna nei i whakatū te mīhana Katorika tuatahi ki Aotearoa ki te Hokianga i te tau 1838. I whakatupuhia a Hōtere ki tētahi whānau Katorika Māori tata, i tana kāinga o Mitimiti.

Ka 15 ōna tau, ka wehe atu ia i Mitimiti ka haere ki te Kāreti Māori o Hato Petera i Onewa, Tāmakimakaurau mō te toru tau, i muri mai ki te Kāreti Pouako o Tāmakimakaurau mō te rua tau (1950–51). Ka haere mō tētahi atu tau ki Ōtepoti ki te Kāreti Pouako o reira me te Kāreti o King Edward Technical, ko te toi tana kaupapa mātanga.  Ka tīmata tana peita, ka mutu, ko tana whakaaturanga tuatahi he whakaaturanga nā rāua ko tētahi hoa toi mātanga, a John Kim, i te Whare Pukapuka Tūmatanui o Ōtepoti i te tau 1952.

I te tau 1953 ka whiwhi tūranga kaitohutohu tipi haere a Hōtere mō ngā mahi toi me ngā mahi ā-rehe i a Gordon Tovey, te kaiwhakahaere o te motu mō te mahi toi me ngā mahi ā-rehe i te Tari Mātauranga, ka noho mai ia ki Pēwhairangi. Ka mahi ia i te Hōtaka Māori o Te Tai Tokerau (1954–59), te kaupapa auaha a Tovey, he whakamātautanga mahi toi i te ao mātauranga i whai wāhi atu ai ētahi kura tuatahi Māori, ko te nuinga atu i Te Tai Tokerau. He kaituku mātauranga titiro whakamua a Tovey, e mihia ana mōna i whakawhanake ai i te mātauranga toi kākanorua tuatahi o te motu. Ko tāna he whakahau i ngā kaitohutohu i whakawhiwhia e ia ki te tūranga kia ahuahu i ā rātou ake mahi rangahau, mahi toi, hei wāhanga o ā rātou mahi. I tana kite iho i ngā pūkenga toi hiranga o Hōtere, ko te kōrero ia, ka whakawāteatia e Tovey i ōna wā i āna mahi ki te peita. I te tau 1958, te 1959 me te 1960, ka whakaaturia takitahitia e Hōtere āna mahi ki te Northland Art Society, ka whakaaturia ana tānga ki te hautaka a Te Tari Māori, ki Te Ao Hou.

Toi Māori o te ao hou  

Ko Hōtere tētahi o te rōpū ringatoi Māori para huarahi hou i whakawhanake i te toi Māori o te ao hou o ngā tau 1960, e hōpara ana i ngā taera me ngā tikanga toi hou o tāwahi. Ko te ariā me te tikanga hou te ara i whāia, ka whakakotahitia e ngā ringatoi Māori o te ao hou te ariā, te whakaaro ahurea, i ōna wā te āhua Māori ki te toi hou o Ūropi, i runga i te whai i ngā ringatoi pērā i a Jean Arp, i a Constantin Brâncuşi, i a Barbara Hepworth, i a Paul Klee, i a Henry Moore me Pablo Picasso.

I rite tahi ngā māharahara o ngā ringatoi Māori ao ahou, pērā i a Cath Brown rātou ko Fred Graham, ko Mere Harrison (née Lodge), ko Katarina Mataira, ko Paratene Matchitt, ko Buck Nin, ko Freda Rankin, ko Muru Walters, ko Marilynn Webb, ko Selwyn Wilson me Arnold Manaaki Wilson, ki ō ō rātou hoa toi ehara i te Māori. Ka arotahi ngā ringatoi nei ki te waihanga toi o te ao hou mō te taiwhanga toi, kaua te wharenui. Ko tā te toi hou he para huarahi e kounu ai rātou i ngā tikanga ahurea tuku iho. Ko Hōtere tētahi o te rōpū i tino kaha te whakaaro ki tua. Totoro ana āna kawenga ki ōna hoa toi o taua wā, me ngā reanga o muri iho. 

Ingarangi me Ūropi

I te tau 1961 ka whakawhiwhia a Hōtere ki tētahi New Zealand Art Societies Fellowship i āhei ai ia ki te haere ki Ūropi ki te mātai i te mahi peita me te hoahoa whakairoiro i te Central School of Arts and Crafts i Rānana. I taua tau ka kōwhiria tana mahi a ‘Sand dunes, Hokianga’, mō tētahi whakaaturanga ā-rōpū o te ao hou ki te Auckland City Art Gallery, ka noho ko ia te kaipeita Māori toi hou tuatahi i whakatairangatia e te hunga toi auraki o Aotearoa; mō ētahi tau i muri mai ko ia nahenahe te ringatoi Māori o te ao toi hou i kauawhi tūturuhia e te ao toi. I te tau 1961 ka whakaatu ā-rōpū anō ia i ana mahi i te Ikon Gallery, Tāmakimakaurau, ki te taha o Colin McCahon.

I te tau o muri mai ka whiwhi a Hōtere i tētahi Karolyi International Fellowship ki te mahi ki Wīwī, atu i reira ka pau te rua tau me te haurua o muri mai ki te huri me te whakaatu haere ki Ūropi. I ana haerenga ka toro ia i te Sangro River War Cemetery i ngā tahatika o te Adriatic i Itāria, i reira nei tana tuakana a Jack e nehua ana, i mate i te pakanga i te tau 1943. Nā ēnei toronga i ara ake ai ana mahi peita whakahē pakanga, arā, tana raupapa hiranga a ‘Sangro’. Ka tīmata tana waihanga mahi toi e mārama ana te whakaaro tōrangapū o roto, he mahi i whāia mātātoatia e ia mō te toenga atu o ana rā mahi. I te tau 1962 ka hangaia e ia tana raupapa a ‘Polaris’ e tohu ana i te whakamahi a te US i te pere upoko karihi i te whakatumatumatanga i Cuba i te tau 1962, me tana raupapa a ‘Algerie’ e urupare ana ki ngā mahi tātāmi a ngā Wīwī me te pakanga mō te mana motuhaketanga i Algeria.

I a ia i Ingarangi, ka whakaatu mahi a Hōtere i Rānana i te Redfern Gallery, i te Royal Society of British Artists, i te Royal College of Art, i te Whitechapel Gallery me te Qantas Gallery, ka mutu, he whakaaturanga takitahi hira anō tāna, a Ralph Hōtere: Recent Work, i Middlesborough. Hau ana tōna rongo i āna mahi. Ko Hōtere tētahi o ngā ringatoi Māori tuatahi kia rongonui i waho atu o Aotearoa mō āna mahi toi.  

Hokinga mai ki Aotearoa

I hoki mai a Hōtere ki Aotearoa i te tau 1965. Ko te wā i a ia i tāwāhi he wā i pakari ai, i pukumahi ai ia, he wā i poua ai tana taera taipakeke. Ka hoki anō ia ki te Tari Mātauranga i Tāmakimakaurau hei kaiārahi toi i ngā kura, me te whakaatu anō ki Tāmakimakaurau, ki Poihākena, ki Ōtautahi me Ōtepoti. I te tau 1968 ka waihangatia, ka whakaaturia āna ‘mahi peita pango’ tuatahi, he mahi whakakauriki i tahuri ai ia ki te ‘tārake atu i ngā āhuatanga kua kore e whai kiko’.3Ka noho ana ‘mahi peita pango’ hei waitohu mōna, hei mahi toi tino rongonui māna, ka mutu, he maha noa atu ana raupapa pēnei i ana rā mahi toi. Ka whakawhiwhia ki te Frances Hodgkins Fellowship i te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou i te 1969, ka hūnuku tūturu ia ki Ōtākou. I tino pai ki a ia te noho ki Port Chalmers, ka māmā ake tana mahi i te tawhiti atu i ngā whakawai a te noho taone nui. Hei tā Hōtere, ‘i Ōtepoti e mōhio ana rātou he kaipeita ahau, ka waiho noa au ki taku mahi.’4

I te tau 1969 ka whakaurua atu ētahi o ana mahi ki ētahi whakaaturanga ki Aotearoa, ki te ao anō, arā, ki Tokyo (Hapanihi), ki Ljubljana (Yugoslavia), ki te USA me Kānata. I ngā tau 1970 ka whakawhānuitia e Hōtere tāna i mahi ai ki te papa whakaari, ki te kākahu mō te whare tapere, me te tānga uhi mō ngā pukapuka toikupu a James K. Baxter, a Hone Tūwhare me Bob Orr. He maha ana mahi o tēnei takiwā i komohia atu ai te kupu kua tāhuatia, kua tuhia ki te reo Ingarihi, ki te reo Māori, me ētahi atu reo pērā i te reo Wīwī. Ko ētahi o ngā kupu i komohia atu ko te kupu a ētahi toikupu o Aotearoa, pērā i a Tūwhare, i a Bill Manhire, i a Ian Wedde me Cilla McQueen.

Ko ētahi whakaaturanga nunui i ngā tau o te 1970 ko ana mahi e kīia ana ko ‘Malady’, i kōwhiria nei mō te XI Sao Paulo Biennale ki Parīhi; ko tana raupapa a ‘Te Whiti’ mō te tomokanga o Parihaka i te tau 1881; te Matarahi i te Founders Theatre mā te Kaunihera o Kirikiriroa; me ana kara ‘Song cycle’ mō te whakaari a te Sound Movement Theatre i whai wāhi atu nei te kaitito me te kaimātai pūoro momo tangata, a Jack Body.

Godwit/Kuaka

Ko te tono i a Hōtere kia waihanga mai i tētahi matarahi nui i te Taunga Rererangi o Tāmakimakaurau i te 1977, tētahi wā nui whakaharahara o tōna whakapakaritanga taha toi. E kīia ana tana mahi ‘The flight of the godwit’ 18-mita nei te rahi, ko tētahi o ana mahi whakahirahira katoa, e whakaatu ana i te tāhei tae poutū, i te porowhita me te kupu tāhua i runga papamuri mōhanihani, papamuri mōhinuhinu pango, ka mutu, ki te kōrero a te tumu kōrero toi, a Kriselle Baker, ‘ko ōna wāhi iti katoa e whakapūmau ana i ōna wheako o mua’.5 I whakapaitia, i whakaingoatia anō e Hōtere a Godwit/Kuaka i te tau 1997 i muri i te tangohia mai e te taunga rererangi. Ka kohaina ki te Chartwell Collection i te Auckland Art Gallery.

Nā tētahi pūtea i tukua ki a ia e te Kaunihera Toi o Kuīni Irihāpeti II i te tau 1978, i āhei ai ia ki te noho ki Avignon i Wīwī, i haere ai ia ki Pāniora me Itāria. I te toronga anō ōna i te rua kōiwi o tana tuakana, ka puta tana raupapa hou, a ‘Return to Sangro’.

Mahi tōrangapū

Ahakoa te rongonui o tana noho mū mō ana mahi toi, me tana hiahia kia ‘tū motuhake’ ana mahi, i ngā tau 1980 ka kaha ake te reo tōrangapū o Hōtere i ana mahi toi. Ko ētahi ko ana mahi haeana kōwakawaka, i hangaia hei uruparenga ki te whakaaro kia hangaia he whare whakanao konumohe ki Aramoana, pātata ki Ōtepoti, ka whakararu taha hauropi nei i ngā wairepo mātaitai kōpīpī o reira. Ko ētahi atu o ana mahi peita, ana tānga, i whakaatu i tana whakahē i te tāpoi a ngā Springbok i te tau 1981, me te totohutanga o te Rainbow Warrior i te tau 1985. I tohea anō e ana mahi te takahitanga o te mōtika tangata i te ao, me te whakamihi anō i ngā kaiwhawhai mō te mōtika mana ōrite mō te kiri waitutu, a Martin Luther King rāua ko Steve Biko.

Ko ētahi o ngā āhuatanga nunui o ōna rā mahi i ngā tau 1980, ko te kōwhiria o rāua ko Colin McCahon mō te whakaaturanga e kīia ana ko te Fifth Biennale of Sydney Private Symbol: Social Metaphor, me te hanganga o te ‘Black phoenix’, tētahi puninga toi whakahirahira i hangaia ki ngā toenga hūhunu o tētahi waka hī ika. Ka toru tau a ‘Black phoenix’ e waihangatia ana, ko te whakamārama mōna ko tana tohu i te manawaroa, te ‘whakamaharatanga ki te hanganga hou’6 me tētahi ‘kōrero kē nā te pito o te ao ki Aotearoa me Ahitereiria mō te pakiwaitara o te phoenix’.7Hāunga ia te hiranga i tōna rahi me te whakamahinga auaha o te rawa, i hiranga anō mō te tohu i ngā hītori o Te Aupōuri.

Mārenatanga

E toru ngā mārentanga a Ralph Hōtere, ko te tuatahi ki te kaiāwhina tari, a Betty Rāmeka i Whangārei i te 1 o Hepetema 1959. Ka mahue tūturu rāua i te tau 1972, ka moea e Hōtere te toikupu a Priscilla Muriel Smith (Cilla McQueen) i Port Chalmers, i te 8 o Pipiri 1973. Ka whāngaihia e ia te tamāhine a Cilla, a Andrea, i raro i te ture. Ka mahue tūturu a Hōtere rāua ko McQueen i te tau 1987, ka mutu, i te 20 o Pēpuere 2002 ka moea e ia te ringatoi a Mary Jane McFarlane i Ōtepoti.  

Tau tōmuri

I ngā tau 1990 ka hangaia tahitia e Hōtere rāua ko te ringatoi, a Bill Culbert, ētahi puninga toi nui whakaharahara pērā i te ‘P.R.O.P.’, ‘Pathway to the sea – Aramoana’, te ‘Fault’, me te ‘Blackwater’. I whakakotahitia i ngā mahi nei ngā mahi a Culbert ki te rama me te whakamahinga kōkau a Hōtere i te pango, me te whakamahinga auaha o ngā hanga pērā i te anga pāua, i te karaehe me te haeana kōwakawaka. 

I te tau 1994 ka whakawhiwhia ia ki tētahi tohu kairangi hōnore e Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtepoti, ka mutu, i te tau 1996 ka noho ia mō tētahi wā ki Cuba. I tuwhera tana whakaaturanga takitahi matua, a Hōtere: Out the Black Window, ki te Wellington City Gallery i te tau 1997; i arotahi tēnei o ana mahi ki ngā toikupu o Aotearoa. Ko te tuarua, a Black Light, i tuwhera i te tau 2000.

I whakawhiwhia a Hōtere ki te Tohu Tipua tuatahi a te Arts Foundation i te tau 2003, ki te Tohu Taumata mō te hautūtanga tāpua me āna ratonga ki te toi Māori a Te Waka Toi i te tau 2006. Ka uhia ia hei mema o te Order of New Zealand, te hōnore tiketike katoa o Aotearoa, i ngā hōnoretanga o te Tau Hou i te 2012. Ka kitea ngā mahi a Hōtere i ngā kohinga toi tūmatanui matua me ngā kohinga tūmataiti, i ngā kohinga toi ki te ao anō.  

Noho tūroro ana a Ralph Hōtere mai i tana ikura rorohia i te tau 2001; ka mate ia ki Ōtepoti i te 24 o Pēpuere 2013, e 81 ōna tau, mahue mai ana ko tana wahine a Mary me tana tamāhine a Andrea. I tanumia ki te Urupā o Hione i Mitimiti. I te tau 2017 ka kōwhiria ana mahi toi mō te documenta 14 i Tiamani, tētahi o ngā whakaaturanga toi ahunga hou tino hira o te ao. I kīia ana mahi he mahi hautū, he mahi tohu i te āhua o te toi i Aotearoa, me te kawe anō o āna mahi i ngā kōrero toi hou o te ao.

Kupu tāpiri
  1. Ian Wedde. ‘Where is the art that does this?’ In Hotere: out the black window: Ralph Hotere’s work with New Zealand poets. Ed. Gregory O’Brien. Wellington, 1997, p.8. Back
  2. Jonathan Mane-Wheoki. ‘The black light paradox: the sumptuous austerity of Ralph Hotere’s Art.’ Art New Zealand 98 (Winter 2001), https://www.art-newzealand.com/Issue98/hotere.htm, accessed 13 September 2019. Back
  3. David Eggleton. ‘Rainbow Warriors.’ Off the Wall 1 (March 2013), p.2. Back
  4. Quoted in Ralph Hotere, A Survey 1963-1973. Dunedin, 1975, p.4. Back
  5. Kriselle Baker, and Vincent O’Sullivan. Ralph Hotere. Auckland, 2008, p.124. Back
  6. David Eggleton. ‘Colourful artist made statements in black’. Dominion Post, 2 March 2013, https://www.pressreader.com/, accessed 13 September 2019. Back
  7. Gregory O’Brien. ‘Ralph Hotere’. In Art at Te Papa. Ed. William McAloon. Wellington, 2009, p.351. Back
Me pēnei te tohu i te whārangi:

Megan Tamati-Quennell. 'Hotere, Hone Papita Raukura (Ralph)', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 2019. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/biographies/6h3/hotere-hone-papita-raukura-ralph (accessed 29 March 2024)