{{Short description|New Zealand art historian, academic and curator (1943–2014)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2014}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=October 2014}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Jonathan Mane-Wheoki | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CNZM|size=100%}} | image = Jonathan Mane-Wheoki.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1943|12|18|df=y}} | birth_place = North Island, New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2014|10|10|1943|12|18}} | death_place = Auckland, New Zealand | fields = Art history | workplaces = University of Canterbury<br/>Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa<br/>University of Auckland | alma_mater = University of Canterbury<br/>Courtauld Institute of Art | known_for = Contemporary Māori and Pacific art history | awards = }} '''Jonathan Ngarimu Mane-Wheoki''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CNZM|size=85%}} (8 December 1943 – 10 October 2014) was a New Zealand art historian, academic, and curator. He was a pioneer in the study of contemporary Māori and Pacific art history.<ref name="Stuff">{{cite news|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/10606361/Art-mogul-Jonathan-Mane-Wheoki-dies|title=Art mogul Jonathan Mane-Wheoki dies|date=11 October 2014|work=Stuff.co.nz|accessdate=11 October 2014}}</ref>
==Biography== Of Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī and English descent,<ref name="Stuff"/> Mane-Wheoki was born on 18 December 1943,<ref name="requiem">{{cite web|title=A requiem mass for Jonathan Ngarimu Mane-Wheoki, 18 December 1943 - 10 October 2014|url=http://natlib.govt.nz/records/35187274?search%5Bi%5D%5Bsubject%5D=Mane-Wheoki%2C+Jonathan+Ngarimu+%28Prof%29%2C+1943-2014&search%5Bpath%5D=items|publisher=National Library of New Zealand|date = January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/about/media-releases/gallery-honours-jonathan-ngamuri-mane-wheoki |title=Auckland Art Gallery honours curator, academic and art historian Professor Jonathan Ngamuri Mane-Wheoki (1943–2014) |date=11 October 2014 |publisher=Auckland Art Gallery Te Toi o Tāmaki |accessdate=12 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013092933/http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/about/media-releases/gallery-honours-jonathan-ngamuri-mane-wheoki |archivedate=13 October 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> and grew up in the Hokianga.<ref name="Stuff"/> When his family moved to Titirangi in the 1950s, he came into contact with the prominent New Zealand artist, Colin McCahon, who would become his first art teacher at night classes taught at the Auckland Art Gallery by McCahon in the 1950s.<ref name="CAG_bulletin_178">{{cite web |url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/bulletin/178/jonathan-mane-wheoki-teacher|title=Jonathan Mane-Wheoki: teacher|date=3 December 2014 |website= |publisher=Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu|accessdate=21 November 2016}}</ref>
Between 1966 and 1971 Mane-Wheoki studied at the University of Canterbury, where Rudolf Gopas was an important influence on him. He completed his Diploma in Fine Arts (Hons) in 1969, followed by a BA in English.<ref>{{cite web |title=Study Material |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1506346 |website=Te Papa Collections Online |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comsdev.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2008/080218a.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228183628/http://www.comsdev.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2008/080218a.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 February 2008|title=University of Canterbury to honour art historian|date=18 February 2008|publisher=University of Canterbury|accessdate=11 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="UoA">{{cite web|url=http://www.creative.auckland.ac.nz/people/elam/jman077|title=Professor Jonathan Ngarimu Mane-Wheoki|publisher=University of Auckland|accessdate=11 October 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023200239/http://www.creative.auckland.ac.nz/people/elam/jman077|archivedate=23 October 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref> His 1969 Honours thesis was titled ''The musical phase of modern painting''.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Mané-Wheoki |first=Jonathan |year=1969 |type=Masters thesis |title=The musical phase of modern painting |publisher=UC Research Repository, University of Canterbury |hdl=10092/8833 |doi=10.26021/5161 |url=https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/handle/10092/8833}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Musical Phase of Modern Painting |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/2403466 |website=Te Papa Collections Online |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref> He worked for the Robert McDougall Art Gallery before travelling to the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, where he gained an M.A. in Art History focusing on Ecclesiology, Colonial Ecclesiology, and Religious Art in France.<ref>{{cite web |title=Working notes for PhD thesis |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/2403472 |website=Te Papa Collections Online |publisher=Te Papa |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref> His M.A. report was titled ''Polychromatic Elements in High Victorian Church Architecture''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Study Materials |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/2403464 |website=Te Papa Collections Online |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref> While in London, he began studying for a PhD under an Arts Council NZ scholarship.<ref>{{cite web |title=Notebook/Diary |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/2403476 |website=Te Papa Collections Online |publisher=Te Papa Tongarewa |access-date=3 April 2025}}</ref>
He returned to New Zealand to begin his academic career at the University of Canterbury in 1975, rising to become dean of music and fine arts.<ref name="Stuff"/> In 2004 he became director of art and collection services at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa,<ref name="Te Papa">{{cite web|url=https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/about/press-and-media/press-releases/2014-news-and-media-releases/queens-birthday-honour-for-te|title=Queen's Birthday honour for Te Papa's leading art scholar|year=2014|publisher=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa|accessdate=23 November 2016}}</ref> and in 2009 he was appointed professor of fine arts and head of the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/organisation/council/jonathan-mane-wheoki|title=Professor Jonathan Mane-Wheoki|year=2012|publisher=Royal Society of New Zealand|accessdate=11 October 2014}}</ref> He stepped down as the head of Elam in 2012,<ref name="UoA"/> was an honorary research fellow at Te Papa from 2012, and in 2013 he took on the part-time role of head of arts and visual culture at that institution.<ref name="Te Papa"/> After the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, he supported the retention of Christchurch Cathedral, arguing that the church was part of the city's identity and its "heart".<ref name=Stuff />
Mane-Wheoki, who was an openly gay Anglican churchman, was seen as a positive role model in the LGBT community in New Zealand. Geremy Hema stated, "for gay Maori and gay Anglicans his mere presence provides much inspiration. He was respected, adored and revered by all in the Maori, academic, ecclesiastical, and creative circles in which he and his partner Paul existed."<ref>{{cite news|title=Professor Jonathon Mane-Wheoki's Impact on GLBT community Will Not Be Forgotten |url=http://www.gayexpress.co.nz/2014/10/professor-jonathon-mane-wheokis-impact-glbt-community-will-forgotten/|accessdate=7 July 2017|work=Express Magazine|date=16 October 2014}}</ref>
==Honours and awards== In 2008, Mane-Wheoki was awarded an honorary LittD by the University of Canterbury.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/theuni/council/Honorary%20Graduates/Annual_Recipient_List_2014.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714125030/http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/theuni/council/Honorary%20Graduates/Annual_Recipient_List_2014.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2014-07-14|title=Honorary graduates|date=2014|website=|publisher=University of Canterbury|accessdate=11 October 2014}}</ref> He received the Pou Aronui Award from the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2012, for outstanding contribution in the development of the humanities in Aotearoa New Zealand.<ref>{{cite news|title=Royal Society Te Aparangi - Recipients|url=https://royalsociety.org.nz/what-we-do/medals-and-awards/pou-aronui-award/recipients-2/|accessdate=7 July 2017|publisher=Royal Society of New Zealand }}</ref> In the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours he was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the arts.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-2014 |title=Queen's Birthday honours list 2014 |date=2 June 2014 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |accessdate=28 April 2018}}</ref>
The 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Award for Illustrated non-fiction was won by ''Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art'', on which Mane-Wheoki had worked with co-authors Deidre Brown and Ngarino Ellis before his death.<ref name="Need">{{cite news |date=14 May 2025 |title='We need more writers who can just remember' says Ockham winning wahine professor |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/books/landmark-maori-art-history-book-wins-aotearoa-s-top-prize-for-illustrated-non-fiction |access-date=22 May 2025 |work=Radio New Zealand}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=‘Our people were so innovative’: Māori art celebrated in landmark book |date=28 February 2025 |last=Corlett |first=Eva |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/28/toi-te-mana-an-indigenous-history-of-maori-art-book |access-date=28 March 2026 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
==Death== He died in Auckland on 10 October 2014 after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/256679/prominent-nz-art-historian-dies|title=Prominent NZ art historian dies|date=11 October 2014|publisher=Radio New Zealand News|accessdate=11 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Jonathan Mane-Wheoki dies|url=http://www.anglicantaonga.org.nz/Features/Extra/Jonathan-Mane-Wheoki-dies|accessdate=7 July 2017|work=Anglican Taonga|date=11 October 2014}}</ref> having recently visited the Hokianga to see where he would be buried,<ref name="Stuff"/> and said he was prepared to die. "I am relaxed about it, what else can I be?" He died a month after his investiture ceremony at Government House as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mane-Wheoki, Jonathan}} Category:1943 births Category:2014 deaths Category:Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Category:Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in New Zealand Category:Ngāpuhi people Category:Te Aupōuri people Category:Ngāti Kurī people Category:New Zealand art historians Category:People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Category:People from the Hokianga Category:University of Canterbury alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of Canterbury Category:Academic staff of the University of Auckland Category:New Zealand gay men Category:New Zealand Māori academics Category:New Zealand Anglicans Category:Indigenous historians