A Māori Figure in a Kaitaka Cloak
Molly Macalister
Type
- Sculpture
Medium
- Bronze
Dimensions
- H3225mm x dia. 1100mm (approx)
Molly Macalister, ‘A Māori Figure in a Kaitaka Cloak’ (1967), CBD, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Image: Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand, May 2024
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Description
In 1964 Molly Macalister was invited by the Auckland City Council, on the strength of her exhibited work, to produce a bronze figure of a Māori warrior for the then forecourt of the Chief Post Office, Queen Street. Designed to complement the neoclassical style of the Post Office and to greet visitors and settlers arriving at the wharves, the sculpture was unveiled in 1967.
The statue was relocated within the area after the street was closed to form Queen Elizabeth Square in the 1980s. The site of seemingly continuous construction through the 2000s, for many years Macalister’s warrior was kept in storage. After the square had been refashioned in 2022 as the urban plaza, Te Komititanga, the sculpture was proudly returned to the site.
Robin Woodward has written an account of the controversies associated with this work including accusations that Molly had misled the commissioning panel. Rather than the “warrior in a … fighting pose” wielding a taiaha, which the panel assumed would be produced, Molly made a monumental figure “wrapped in an all-enveloping, full-length korowai cloak … holding a mere, a symbol of peace.” This figure Molly hoped would be mounted at ground level. Instead, the work was set up on a nearly 2m-tall plinth. This was remedied with the 1982 re-installation, and again now in 2022, the figure has been made easily accessible to viewers on a shallow stone footing.
The statue has witnessed many significant events in Auckland’s history, and it can be seen in numerous photographs (see link to Auckland Libraries search results below).
A plaque with the work states: “MAORI FIGURE IN A KAITAKA CLOAK / SCULPTURED BY MOLLY MACALISTER.”
See also:
- Molly Macalister: A Māori Figure in a Kaitaka Cloak (Auckland Public Art website)
- Robin Woodward, ‘The Sculpture of Molly Macalister’. Art New Zealand, 1983, n.26, (pp32-33, 61)
- Chief Post Office, Queen Elizabeth Square, 1977 (Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 435-05-12)
- Queen Elizabeth Square, Auckland Central (Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1021-0207)
- Maori Warrior, Queen Street, 1968 (Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1528-68033)
- Maori Warrior, 1982 (Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1528-82036)
- Macalister Māori warrior - search results (Auckland Libraries)