JEWELLERY, DECORATIVE & FINE ARTS AUCTION Tuesday, 5 May 2026 / 10:00 am start
Denis Seaward (1876-1946) untitled Maori mythological ascension,
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Lot Details
oil on canvas, signed and dated 1914. 1300 x 650mm. Note: Seaward came to Wanganui from England in 1908 to head the Art Department of the Technical School, and in 1908 designed a new certificate for successful students of the college; he was in the first batch of Wanganui soldiers to be called up in 1917 for service for WW1, and on return resumed his job until 1921; at that point he left the town for good, serving as the Principal of the Falmouth College of Art (Cornwall) until 1940. He exhibited with Auckland Society of Arts. It is recorded that Seaward exhibited several paintings of Maori historical or mythological subjects at the Auckland Society of Arts before and during the first world war, and probably in Whanganui too. It is probable that this work references Tāne's ascension to the heavens: Tāne, imbued with te ira atua (the godly aspect), also obtained te ira tangata (the human aspect) from the heavens before creating and implanting both aspects within Hineahuone, the first woman. She in turn gave birth to humankind, which accounts for the belief that people possess both a human and spiritual nature.
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