White Chief by Lester Hall

White Chief by Lester Hall
    Close White Chief by Lester Hall

    Quantity in Basket: None

    Print Code: 9193

    Price: NZ$395.00

    Contemporary Edition

    Image size in millimetres: 485 x 330
    Signed edition on Epson Velvet fine art paper. Studio printed digital print using K3 archival inks by contemporary NZ print-maker Lester Hall.

    Portrait of "Pakeha Maori" John Rutherford with full moko, one of the Aoteroaland postage stamp series from printmaker Lester Hall exploring issues of Maori and Pakeha identity in contemporary NZ. Lester writes about this print "John Rutherford's stories of life among the Maori as a slave, chief and warrior in the early/mid 1800s are greeted with some skepticism among academics as time lines do not always meet up. However, there is no doubt he was a hardy and clever survivor of shipwreck, cannibalism and war, escaping back to England where he played the "White Chief" in sideshows and fairs until his death. Rutherford became one of the early Europeans to live an extraordinary life as a Pakeha Maori and to receive the full Maori facial tattoo (moko). This image is based on an early pen and ink drawing of the actual man. Pakeha Maori is a term used to describe early European settlers who lived among the Maori and took on the Maori lifestyle. Some were kept as slaves, many being runaway seamen or escaped convicts while some achieved a degree of prestige among Maori and fought in battle with their adopted tribe in the New Zealand land wars, sometimes against European soldiers. Characters like these make our history burst with colour, life and great energy, we ignore them at our great loss."

    Like this Lester Hall print? You will find more prints like White Chief by Lester Hall in these collections at New Zealand's specialist art print store:

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    Editions by Contemporary New Zealand Printmakers
    Maori Art Design