{{Short description|New Zealand painter (1942–1996)}} {{use New Zealand English|date=November 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox artist | birth_date = {{Birth date|1942|08|05|df=y}} | birth_place = Northland, New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|1996|08|14|1942|08|05|df=y}} | known_for = Painting and contribution to the development of contemporary Māori art Establishment of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa | death_place = Hamilton, New Zealand | birth_name = Buck Loy Nin | education = Northland College | alma_mater = {{ubl|University of Canterbury|University of Hawaii|Texas Tech University}} }}
'''Buck Loy Nin''' (1942–1996) was a New Zealand artist and advocate influential in the development of contemporary Māori art and education in New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa |title=Treasures from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa |publisher=Te Papa Press |year=2005 |isbn=1-877385-12-3 |pages=42}}</ref> His landscape paintings have been included in survey exhibitions of contemporary Māori art including ''Te Waka Toi: Contemporary Maori Art'' that toured the United States in 1992 and ''Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art'' curated by Nigel Borrell and opened in 2020. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa as a tertiary institution. Selwyn Muru called him 'Buck Nin the Mythmaker'.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Panoho |first=Rangihiroa |title=Māori art : history, architecture, landscape and theory |year=2015 |others=Mark Adams, Haruhiko Sameshima |isbn=978-1-86953-867-5 |location=Auckland |oclc=911072426}}</ref>.
== Early years == Nin was born on the 5 August 1942 in Northland, New Zealand.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Buck Nin |url=https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artist/6162/buck-nin?q=/explore-art-and-ideas/artist/6162/buck-nin |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Auckland Art Gallery |language=en}}</ref> His father, Choung Nin, was from Guangzhou (Canton), China and his mother, Parehikanga Tatana, was from Poroutawhao in the Horowhenua. Through his mother, Nin affiliates to the Māori iwi (tribes) of Ngāti Huia, Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Toa.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Toi tū, toi ora : contemporary Māori art |date=2022 |others=Nigel Borell, Moana Jackson, Taarati Taiaroa, Auckland Art Gallery |isbn=978-0-14-377673-4 |location=Auckland, New Zealand |oclc=1296712119}}</ref> Nin was the oldest of four, with younger siblings Marie, Lynette (Dolly), and Muriel (adopted into the family as a young girl). The Nins tended to a large market garden on Mangakahia Road.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}
Nin was sick as a child. At age 8 he would complain of feeling tired often to his mother, however when taken to the Doctor's clinic, they'd dismiss the family's concerns and labelled him as a "lazy, Māori boy".{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} His mother soon had enough and took him straight to the hospital, where they found he had rheumatic fever. From this time on he would be in and out of hospital due his poor health. It was during this time that he found a passion for art and learning, passing the time by drawing in his hospital bed and doing his studies.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}
Nin attended Northland College and was Dux in 1960.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Forever Buck Nin |url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/exhibitions/forever-buck-nin |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=christchurchartgallery.org.nz}}</ref> As a teenager his art teacher Selwyn Wilson encouraged him to study art after school. Selwyn Wilson was part of the Gordon Tovey New Zealand Department of Education programme of the 1950s to integrate customary Māori arts, craft and song into the curriculum.<ref name=":1" />
== Education == Nin went to two art schools, first to Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland (1961–62) and subsequently to Ilam at the University of Canterbury where he graduated with a Diploma of Fine Arts in 1966. At Ilam the artist Rudi Gopas was his teacher.<ref name=":0" />
In 1966 Nin alongside Baden Pere curated a large Māori art exhibition called ''New Zealand Maori Culture and the Contemporary Scene'' at the Canterbury Museum.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Chitham |first=Karl |title=Crafting Aotearoa : a cultural history of making in New Zealand and the wider Moana Oceania |date=2019 |publisher=Te Papa Press |others=Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai, Damian Skinner, Rigel Sorzano |isbn=978-0-9941362-7-5 |location=Wellington, New Zealand |pages=207 |oclc=1118996645}}</ref> They were shifting the language 'modern' to 'contemporary' for Māori art.<ref name=":1" />
In 1973 Nin was a founding member of the Māori Artists and Writers Association in 1973.<ref name=":7" /> This society held annual marae-based meetings and exhibitions, in 1986 it was renamed Ngā Puna Waihanga in 1986, and was the precursor of Toi Māori Aotearoa (formed in 1996).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mane-Wheoki |first=Jonathan |date=22 Oct 2014 |title=New developments in contemporary art |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/contemporary-maori-art-nga-toi-hou/page-3 |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |language=en-NZ}}</ref> In 1976 Nin was part of the South Pacific Festival of the Arts in Rotorua. Nin initiated an exhibition called ''Contemporary Māori Art'' at Waikato Art Museum also in 1976.<ref name=":7" />
He studied at the University of Hawai'i after moving to Honolulu in 1978 and completed a Master of Education Administration. He also undertook a PhD in Arts Administration and Management at Texas Tech University graduating in 1981.<ref name=":1" />
Nin and Rongo Wetere were part of the establishment of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |title=Auction « Thu, 20 Nov, 2008 « Work 38 « International Art Centre |url=https://www.internationalartcentre.co.nz/auctions/catalogue/200811/AM13928/The-First-Arrivals-to-Aotearoa |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=www.internationalartcentre.co.nz}}</ref>
== Career == In 1966 Nin along with Baden Pere initiated one of the earliest exhibitions of contemporary Māori art at the Canterbury Museum called ''New Zealand Māori Culture and the Contemporary Scene.'' <ref name=":9" /> He was committed to the revival of Māori culture.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tyler |first=Linda |date=June 2014 |title=Art Collection |url=https://cdn.auckland.ac.nz/assets/central/for/the-media/publications/university-news/2014/uoa-news-issue-4-2014.pdf |journal=UniNEWS |volume=44 |issue=4}}</ref> There had also been an exhibition prior in 1966 at a festival of Māori arts held in Hamilton mounted by Paratene Matchitt and Cliff Whiting.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Mane-Wheoki |first=Jonathan |date=March 2013 |title=The class of '66 |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/document/4130 |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=Te Papa - Collections Online}}</ref> These exhibitions were the foundational in the development of contemporary Māori art and included many artists had a lasting contribution to arts in New Zealand including John Bevan Ford, Pauline Yearbury, Cath Brown and Sandy Adsett.<ref name=":4" />
Nin worked on the restoration of the wharenui (ancestral house) of Te Kooti, ''Rongopai'' that was built in 1881''.''<ref name=":0" /> This building is unusual in that it has painted motifs rather than carved which was innovative and a 'sharp departure from tradition'.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Rongopai |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/rongopai |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=nzhistory.govt.nz |language=en}}</ref> It had restoration work under-taken between 1967 and 1979. Cliff Whiting also worked on this restoration.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=KAEA1981 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/KAEA19810201.2.19 |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Papers Past}}</ref> Nin made an artwork about his involvement in the restoration in painting called ''Rongopai Experience'' (1979).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Aroha |title=Te Ao Hurihuri : the changing world 1920-2014 |date=2018 |others=Melissa Matutina Williams |isbn=978-1-988533-45-2 |location=Wellington |oclc=1019850064}}</ref>
Nin passing on his teachings and one of his students was Kura Te Waru Rewiri.<ref name=":1" />
There was a tribute exhibition to Nin in 1998 where artist Selwyn Muru described his artwork saying,"Earth and Sky play their own tricks and games. At times eerie light and shadows appear to evoke Hawaiki."<ref name=":3" /><blockquote>Nin said of his inspiration, "The land is our heritage. It is the basis from which all creativity stems in Maoridom. For me it is a very strong element for its sustenance, its spiritual reality and the enlightenment it brings to my work."<ref name=":5" /></blockquote>Nin's art is held in many collections including Te Papa, University of Waikato, Auckland Art Gallery, James Wallace Arts Trust.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/agent/1697 |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=collections.tepapa.govt.nz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mural; Buck Nin; 1996; 1996/4/1 on eHive |url=https://ehive.com/collections/8668/objects/1471989/mural |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=eHive |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=This Land is Ours |url=https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artwork/20140 |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=Auckland Art Gallery |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ngaruawahia |url=https://collection.wallaceartstrust.org.nz/objects/7184/ngaruawahia |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=Wallace Arts Trust Collection Online |language=en}}</ref> ''This Land Is Ours'' (circa 1978) is the painting held by the Auckland Art Gallery. It is about the Māori land march led by Dame Whina Cooper in 1975. In the painting is group of people marching surrounded by stylised landform. The central figure probably represents Sir Kīngi Matutaera Īhaka. The title reflects the famous slogan of the march: ‘Not one more acre of Māori land’.<ref name=":6" /> Nin was always a politically engaged artist, identifying with Whina Cooper and the hīkoi marchers in 1975, and with those involved in the Bastion Point protests that began in January 1977.<ref name=":8" /> Nin participated in the land march and also the Bastion Point protest.<ref name=":7" />
== Exhibitions == Some of the exhibitions including Nin's artwork are:
* Canterbury School of Arts (1966)<ref name=":1" /> * Benson and Hedges Art Award (1968)<ref name=":1" /> * ''Contemporary Maori Art,'' Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton (1976)<ref name=":1" /> * International Stone Carving Symposium, Timaru (1989)<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=September 1992 |title=Buck Nin |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/21110338?search%5Bi%5D%5Bsubject_text%5D=Artists,+Maori+--+Biography&search%5Bpath%5D=items |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=National Library New Zealand}}</ref> * ''Kohia ko Taikaka Anake'', National Art Gallery, Wellington (1990)<ref name=":1" /> * ''Te Waka Toi: Contemporary Maori Art'', (tour to the United States) (1992)<ref name=":1" /> * ''Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art,'' Auckland Art Gallery (Sat 5 Dec 2020 – Sun 9 May 2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Auckland Art Gallery |url=https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/toi-tu-toi-ora-contemporary-maori-art?q=/toi-tu-toi-ora-contemporary-maori-art |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Auckland Art Gallery |language=en}}</ref> * ''Forever Buck Nin'', retrospective touring exhibition curated by Pataka the Porirua museum of art and history.<ref name=":7" />
== Personal life == Nin married Carolyn McLanachan in 1965. They had five children: Daymon, Errin, Pania, Daniel and Meiana.
== Death == Nin struggled with several health issues, including heart disease, diabetes, asthma, kidney failure and the aftermath of rheumatic fever. He died on 14 August 1996 in Temple View, Hamilton from a heart attack after an illness.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Buck Loy Nin |url=https://collection.waikatomuseum.org.nz/persons/535/buck-loy-nin |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=Waikato Museum |language=en}}</ref> He was 54 years old at the time of his death.
A 3-day tangihanga was held by his whānau in Temple View, Hamilton. Many of his relatives, friends and prominent leaders and orators from many tribes, including representatives of the Māori Queen Dame Te Arikinui Te Atairangi-Kaahu, attended the tangihanga. He was buried at Hamilton Park Cemetery in Newstead, Hamilton, where his mother was also buried.
In 2016, his wife, Carolyn McLanachan, died after a long battle with cancer. She was buried next to him.
They are survived by their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nin, Buck}} Category:New Zealand Māori artists Category:New Zealand painters Category:Ngāti Raukawa people Category:Ngāti Toa people Category:1942 births Category:1996 deaths