C.F. Goldie (1870-1947)
Te Koord te Cigaretti 1916
oil on canvas
25.3 x 20.7 cm
Gift of Howard Hinton 1941

Born New Zealand, 1870. Died 1947.

Charles Frederick Goldie studied art part-time after leaving school to work in his father’s timber business. Following the exhibition of two still-life paintings in the Auckland Academy of Art in 1891 he was encouraged to travel to Paris for further training. He received a grounding in traditional, formal drawing and painting.

Goldie returned to New Zealand and painted historical events and small-scale detailed pictures of tattooed Maori people. .The historical accuracy and appropriateness of Goldie's images have been debated, but they were widely praised at the time and descendents of his sitters have hailed depictions of their ancestors.

Howard Hinton travelled to New Zealand in 1898, meeting and staying with Goldie. It was here that he gained an appreciation for the artist's work. This small, glossy picture dated 1916 depicts Te Huri, the Chieftainess of the Touhourangi tribe of New Zealand. The Maori woman is shown in head and shoulders format set close to the picture frame. We see her traditional lip and chin tattoos and a thin cigarette balanced in her mouth. She faces the viewer with her ear pendants hanging down to her pale green blouse and deeper green scarf. The texture of the background echoes the deep lines of her face.