Gottfried Lindauer, Woodville. New Zealand.
S 40° 20.220 E 175° 51.945
60G E 403657 N 5534220
In Woodville where he lived, a bronze bust of Gottfried Lindauer (1839-1926), who was the most prolific and best-known painter of Maori subjects, in particular portraits, in the late nineteenth-early twentieth centuries.
Waymark Code: WM9DNH
Location: North Island, New Zealand
Date Posted: 08/06/2010
Views: 7
He was born in Pilsen, Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Despite his German-sounding surname, he was ethnically Czech and was initially named Bohumir. Professionally trained at the Academy Fine Arts in Vienna, he migrated to New Zealand in 1874.
Lindauer's first portraits of Maori were painted in Nelson. He met businessman, Henry Partridge (1848-1931), who over the next 30-plus years commissioned from Lindauer numerous portraits of eminent Maori, both living and deceased, as well as large-scale depictions of re-enactments of traditional Maori life and customs. The aim of the project was to create a pictorial history of Maori at a time when it was widely, though mistakenly, believed that Maori were dying out, either literally or as a distinct cultural group.
The artist passed away in his sleep, as had been his wish on 13 June 1926 at his Woodville home. He is buried in the Woodville Historic Gorge Cemetery.
The town of Woodville has rebuilt a replica Studio displaying his paintings and has erected this bronze bust of Gottfried Lindauer outside the studio.
Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.