Te whakaaturanga tuatahi
I māpuna ake te toi hou a te Māori i ngā tau 1950 me 1960 i te hanumitanga o ngā toi taketake ake a te Māori ki ngā toi i takea mai i ngā ariā toi a tauiwi (western modernism), e kīia ana he primitivism, arā, te whakaahua i te wairua ngāwari i te mahi toi. I whai kiko tēnei toi hou i te whakaaturanga o ngā kaiako e rima (a Ralph Hōtere rātou ko Kāterina Mataira, ko Muru Walters, ko Selwyn Wilson me Arnold Wilson) e mahi ana i te Tai Tokerau. I tū te whakaaturanga ki te Whare Mātauranga o Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki-makaurau.
He pātai tuakiri
I te tau 1976, ka whakatau ake a Ralph Hōtere, ‘I whānau, i tipu Māori mai ahau. Mō āku mahi, i tūpono noa iho mai tērā āhuatanga.’1 Nō muri tata nei, ka tōwaitia e Robert Jahnke: He Māori ahau, ā, i ōrua mai te taonga o te mahi toi.’2 He nui ngā tohungatoi Māori o te ao e taupatupatu ana i waenganui i ngā ao e rua.
Ngā rōpū toi hou o te motu
I te tau 1959 ka whakaae te Pirimia, a Walter Nash kia whakaurua te ahurea ki te marautanga mātauranga. I te tau 1960 ka whakahaere a Gordon Tovey rāua ko te tohunga whakairo a Pine Taiapa i te hui ā-motu ki Ruatōrea. I reira ka taka ngā kaitohutohu toi Māori ki raro i ngā ako a ngā tohunga nui o te motu. Ka whakatū hoki te kāhui ā-motu o ngā tohungatoi. Mai i tēnei hui ka hua ake te rōpū ā-motu mō ngā toi hou a te Māori. Nō te tau 1963 ka tū te Taiopenga Toi Māori tuatahi ki Tūrangawaewae. Koinei te wā tuatahi i whakaaturia ai ngā toi tawhito me ngā toi hou ki te wāhi kotahi. Ka whai hiranga ake ngā toi hou ki te Taiopenga Toi Māori i tū ki Kirikiriroa i te tau 1966.
Te Ahurea Māori me te Ao Hou
I te tau 1966 anō ka whakatūria te whakaaturanga o Te Ahurea Māori o Nāianei ki te Whare Taonga o Ōtautahi. Ko Buck Nin te kaiwhakahaere, ā, i whai atu ngā tohungatoi o Te Tai Tokerau pērā i a Cath Brown rātou ko Jonathan Mane-Wheoki, ko Herewini Murupaenga me Pauline Yearbury. Arā tonu ngā whiuwhiu kōrero i puta i te tāpiritanga o ngā toi Māori hou i te taha o ngā kohinga toi taketake Māori a te whare taonga.
Te whakamārama i te toi Māori
I te tau 1996 ka mea a Hirini Moko Mead: ‘Ko te toi Māori pea he toi e mau nei te āhua Māori, te wairua Māori me ngā tikanga o te ao Māori. Ko te tohunga toi Māori me Māori tonu, ka mutu me whai whakapapa e kīia ai ana mahi he toi Māori.’3 I runga i tēnei aronga noho momotu ai ngā tohungatoi Māori i ngā Tāone, ahakoa kua angitū kē rātou hei kaihoko, kaikohi, kaiwhakahaere taiwhanga, hei kaikōrero hoki. E ai hoki ki a Cliff Whiting, kāore i tua atu i ngā wharenui Māori hei taiwhanga whakaatu toi.
Te oranga tonu, te matenga rānei
E haurokuroku ana te noho a te hononga a te toi hou me te toi taketake. Ka tautohetia e ngā kaiwhakaae me ngā kaiwhakahē, mēnā rānei he tohu pai, he tohu kino rānei tēnei hononga. Ki a Kāterina Mataira, he huhua ngā pānga Māori e whakaawe ana i ngā mahi toi a Arnold Wilson rāua ko Paratene Matchitt, ā, he nui ngā whakairo me ngā kōwhaiwhai Māori e whakaurua ana i roto i ngā hoahoa a Muru rātou ko Matchitt me Whiting. Heoi ki te kairīpoata Māori a Harry Dansey, nā te korekore o ngā rākeitanga ā-papa, me te whakamahi i te papa māheniheni, i rerekē ai tēnei tūmomo toi whakairo rākau. I noho rangirua ia ki te āhua o ngā toi a Hōtere me te kī, ‘kāretahi he paku Māoritanga o roto i ana mahi’. Me i kitea e ia, ka pēhea ōna whakaaro ki ngā whakairo tōtōkau a Matt Pine i Ūropi i taua wā?
Nō konei ka noho wehe ētahi tohungatoi hou i ngā toi taketake. I te tau 1961 ka kōrero a Muru Walters, ‘e uruhau tonu ana ngā kaiwhakairo o nāianei ki te whai i ngā tauira nanahi, me te kore e aro ki tōna tikanga i ēnei rā’.5 I te tau 1967 ka whakatūria a Te Puia ki Te Whakarewarewa i Rotorua. Ko Hone Taiapa te kaiārahi o te whare whakairo, ko Emily Schuster te kaiārahi o te wharepora (i tuwhera i te tau 1969). Kei tēnā, kei tēnā, āna tirohanga mō te kura nei. Ki ētahi he hokinga whakamuri tēnei, engari ki ētahi, he whanaketanga whakamua kē.