Artwork Information

The Three Carvers explores what might lie beyond the boundaries of Māori society. It works to transform the vision for Māori art by illustrating the continuity of a carving tradition.

In this bird’s-eye view three carvers are poised over exposed logs with chisels and mallets in hand, ready to strike wood. While carving is an individual skill, in a community master carvers provide opportunities for apprentices to watch and work alongside them. Of the changes occurring in Māori art during the 1960s,

Matchitt observed:

The modern Māori is not identical with his ancestors. It would be strange if the way he expresses himself did not show evidence of this.