Artwork information

The Quebecois artist, Grasset de Saint-Sauveur, never saw the indigenous people he romantically envisioned in his prints. He based his images on well-known travel accounts and his vivid imagination. This Māori wears a Roman style wrap and striped cummerbund with an elaborate feather headdress put to one side. He appears to live in an igloo-like brick dwelling quite unlike the reality of a Māori whare made of carved wood with a roof thatched with raupo (reed) or nikau fronds.