Was flipping through my art history textbook the other day, and stumbled across this very interesting page...It's a comparison of two portraits of Te Pehi Kupe, the first by Englishman John Henry Sylvester, and the second by Te Pehi Kupe himself.
Who was Te Pehi Kupe? He was a Maori rangatira (political leader) and war leader, who played an significant role in the "Musket Wars". He was killed in his sleep in 1828 during a Kaiapoi night raid on the Ngati Toa.
What is so interesting about this page? Both portraits portray the leader's facial tattooing. However, as the author points out, in Sylvester's rendition he includes Te Pehi Kupe's head, shoulders, and British attire to underplay the tattoos. In contrast, the self-portrait consists of nothing but Te Pehi Kupe's tattoo, demonstrating the design's enormous importance to Kupe, symbolizing his position in his community.
Te peehi Kupe was on a visit to the King and Queen of England / British empire, this image that Te Peehi Kupe drew himself was do so because he knew that English artist would not appreciate the importance of getting a Tā moko correct and he did not want them to get it wrong. Te Peehi wore this attire as they were clothes gifted to him from Captain Reynolds of the Uranea ship who, it will not be found in the initially racist "Records of New Zealand" official entries that were of a particular standing in officialdom, that to talk of a savage saving his life was not mentioned. However, in the memoirs of Reynolds he speaks more freely making point that it was Tupai Kupa who did so save his life when a storm washed the captain overboard not far from Monte Video and Te Peehi, without hesitation, dived in after him. From that day Captain Reynolds felt eternally thankful an indebted to care for Te Peehi Kupe while he was in England. Te Peehi Kupe wore his English attire with pride, even after returning to Aotearoa. Te Peehi also knew Pākehā would not get the moko right because they didn't even care to say his name properly; Tupai Kupa & Tippahe Cupa were entries found in other documentations of his visit. The artist was able to correctly copy the moko onto a sitting that took approximately 2 days in Liverpool. Te Peehi Kupe knew it would be hard for the artist to get it correct and so did this to make sure it was drawn correctly. Te Peehi died by murder in a peace meeting where a missionary poured poison into the ear of the young Ngāi Tahu chief Tangatahara who then caused a raru with Te Peehi only to kill him and start begin an unnecessary war between the two tribes that could have been avoided at that very meeting.Ngai Tahu made taonga out of his bones and I confronted Sir Tipene O'Reagan to see if they could please return those bones to the Te Hiko family. I am still waiting for them to be returned..Sometimes peace can take a little longer, but it is worth it.
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