IWI / HAPU AFFILIATIONS

Paramena Te Naonao and his wife Raita Tuterangi were from the Ngäti Kahungunu community of Mokai Patea. As Roger Blackley notes in the book, Art at Te Papa, this portrait and its companion, Mrs Paramena, were commissioned at Hastings in 1885, when the couple posed for the photographs from which Lindauer would develop the portraits. For whatever reason the couple failed to uplift their portraits, and instead the paintings passed into private Pākehā ownership for the next century. They were acquired by Te Papa in 1995. A striking pair, Lindauer's portraits of Mr and Mrs Paramena are especially remarkable for being in pristine condition. They returned to the Hawke's Bay in 2005, for the exhibition Gottfried Lindauer - 'Shadow maker'.

Dougal Austin, Curator Māori and William McAloon, Curator Historical New Zealand Art, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa