Top left: Rewi Manga Maniapoto, 1882, oil on canvas, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o T-ümaki, gift of Mr H E Partridge, 1915. Image credit - Gottfried Lindauer.
Bottom left: Wahanui Reihana Te Huatare, oil on canvas, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o T-ümaki, gift of Mr H E Partridge, 1915. Image credit - Gottfried Lindauer.
Top middle, top right, bottom right: Opening of Gottfried Lindauer exibit in Plzeň, Czech Republic. Photos supplied by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o T-ümaki
19th century New Zealand painter; Gottfried Lindauer's hometown in the Czech Republic has started taking an interest in him. Plzen in the Czech Republic had all but forgotten Lindauer who immigrated to New Zealand where he painted hundreds of portraits, mainly of Maori tribal leaders and well-known figures. But that's all changed and as part of Plzen's year as Europe's Capital of Culture, New Zealand has loaned out many of its valuable Lindauer paintings. Auckland Art Gallery's director Rhana Devenport went to what she describes as a very moving opening ceremony in Plzen and spoke to Lynn Freeman at the Venice Biennale about the exhibition and new research on Lindaur.
