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Overview
Text originally created for Tūrangawaewae: Art and New Zealand exhibition at Te Papa, March 2018.
A portrait made from a photograph.
Whanganui chief Taketake Rangitipu was a favourite subject for photographers in the early 1900s – but little is known about his life.
The portrait – made on cardboard rather than canvas – closely resembles a photograph by Auckland photographer WHT Partington. The artist, Wilhelm Dittmer, appears to have used this as the basis for his painting: in infrared light, you can see the pencil gridlines he made to transfer Rangitipu’s image.
He mea peita mai i tētahi whakaahua.
Ko Taketake Rangitipu, rangatira nō Whanganui tētahi o ngā tino kaupapa whakaahua i ngā tau mātāmua o 1900 – heoi kāhore i te nui ngā kōrero mōna.
Ko te kōwaiwai kiritanga – he mea peita ki runga i te papa mārō tēnā i te kānawehi – he rite ki tētahi whakaahua nā WHT Partington, he kaihopu whakaahua nō Tāmakimakarau. Ko te āhua nei he mea whakamahi nā te ringatoi a Wilhelm Dittmer ki te mahi i tana kōwaiwai: mā te aho hihi pōkākā ka kitea ngā rārangi tukutuku nāna i mahi ka tāwhaitia te āhua o Rangitipu.