Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Maori Art

A landmark account in words and pictures of Māori art, by Māori art historians--from Polynesian voyaging waka to contemporary Māori artists.

He toi whakairo, he mana tangata.
Through artistic excellence, there is human dignity.

In six hundred pages and with over five hundred illustrations, this volume takes us on an extraordinary voyage through Māori art--from ancestral weavers to contemporary artists at the Venice Biennale, from whare whakairo to film, and from Te Puea Hērangi to Michael Parekōwhai.

Deidre Brown, Ngarino Ellis, and Jonathan Mane-Wheoki explore a wide field of art practices, including raranga (plaiting), whatu (weaving), moko (tattooing), whakairo (carving), rākai (jewellery), kākahu (textiles), whare (architecture), toi whenua (rock art), painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, installation art, digital media, and film. The works discussed span a period from the arrival of Pacific voyagers eight hundred years ago to the contemporary artists working around the world today. With expansive chapters and breakout texts focusing on individual artists, movements, and events, Toi Te Mana is an essential book for anyone interested in te ao Māori.

Author: Deidre Brown, Ngarino Ellis, Jonathan Mane-Wheoki
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 02/28/2025
Pages: 616
Binding Type: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780226839622


Review Citation(s):
Foreword 12/23/2024

About the Author
Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) is a Māori art and architectural historian and professor of architecture at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. Her books include Māori Architecture, Introducing Māori Art, and the multiauthored Art in Oceania. Brown is a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi and Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects. Ngarino Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou) is associate professor of art history at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. She is the author of A Whakapapa of Tradition and coeditor of Te Puna (with Deidre Brown) and Te Ata (with Witi Ihimaera). Ellis's curatorial projects include exhibitions at the Linden Museum and Auckland Art Gallery. Jonathan Mane-Wheoki CNZM (1943-2014; Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī) was an art historian specializing in Māori, New Zealand, and European art. He was the director of art and collection services at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and head of the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland.