Harata Rewiri Tarapata

This portrait by Vera Cummings depicts Harata Rewiri Tarapata, Ngāpuhi, daughter of Te Wharerahi of the Hokianga and a descendant of two noted chiefs, Tāmati Waaka Nene and Eru Patuone, both early signatories of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. Harata was the second wife of Paora Tuhaere, a paramount chief of the Ngāti Whātua tribe of Ōrākei, Auckland together they had a daughter, Mere. In her youth Harata was acknowledged as a great beauty and became a familiar figure around the Orakei area. As a teenager she had delivered ammunition to Ngāpuhi warriors at Ruapekapeka (1845-46) and other key battles of the New Zealand Wars.

Vera Cummings was born in Thames in 1891. When she was 11 she received a scholarship to study at Elam School of Fine Arts, where she studied under Goldie. She became one of his leading pupils and continued to paint alongside him following her studies. They often painted the same models, were usually older Māori women who lived in the Māori hostel near Parnell. Harata, and her cousin Ina Te Papatahi (Ngāpuhi) were painted on several occasions by both Goldie and Cummings.

Here, Cummings pictures Harata in a European blouse and silk scarf, set against a background that is reminiscent of woven harakeke – a common treatment also used by Goldie. Cummings’ style is less realistic than Goldie’s – she uses a lighter, more ‘impressionist’ brushstroke to create a likeness.

Cummings painted several versions of this painting, often painting the same subject to meet the demands of a ready tourist market for such works. While these could be dismissed as ‘potboilers’, they also remind us that artists necessarily need to make a living, and that selling works of popular subjects was one way to do so.