{{Short description|New Zealand sculptor and painter (1933–2021)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=June 2013}} [[File:City to Sea Bridge with Michael Fowler Centre and Wellington Town Hall in background.jpg|thumb|City to Sea Bridge with Michael Fowler Centre (left) and Wellington Town Hall (right) in background]] '''Paratene Temokopuorongo Matchitt''' (10 August 1933 – 19 July 2021)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/search/search?path=%2FqueryEntry.m%3Ftype%3Ddeaths |title=Death search: registration number 2021/20743 |website=Births, deaths & marriages online |publisher=Department of Internal Affairs |access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref> was a New Zealand sculptor and painter, known for combining traditional Māori art forms with those of modernist art. His work also references events from New Zealand history, particularly the Māori prophetic movements of the nineteenth century and most specifically Te Kooti.
==Early life== Matchitt was born in Tokomaru Bay in 1933 of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Te Whakatōhea and Ngāti Porou descent. He was educated at St Peter’s Maori Boys' College.<ref name="Chartwell">[http://www.chartwell.org.nz/Collection/FeaturedWork/ParateneMatchittTePakangaseries.aspx Paratene Matchitt, Te Pakanga series, Chartwell Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110912070639/http://www.chartwell.org.nz/Collection/FeaturedWork/ParateneMatchittTePakangaseries.aspx |date=12 September 2011 }} (retrieved 5 May 2011)</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Amery|first=Mark|date=2021-08-04|title=Moving culturally beyond cancel culture|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/300374122/moving-culturally-beyond-cancel-culture|access-date=2021-08-05|website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref>
==Artist== [[File:Aotea Centre sculptural relief.jpg|thumb|Matchitt's 1990 untitled wood and metal sculpture at the Aotea Centre in Auckland, New Zealand]]
Matchitt's art formation began with helping his father and grandfather on his workshop at Edgecumbe.<ref name="Dunn">DUNN Michael, 2002 - New Zealand Sculpture : A history. Auckland : Auckland University Press, p.134</ref> He went to the Auckland Teachers' Training College in 1955 and 1956.<ref name="Dunn"/> After graduating as a teacher, he took a Dunedin-based course in teaching arts and crafts in schools at the Dunedin Teachers' Training College.<ref>{{Cite Q|Q139922395}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=43}} In 1957, he began his career as arts and crafts adviser for the South Auckland Education Board. He was one of the artists who pursued Māori Arts and Crafts courses at Ruatoria with Pine Taiapa.<ref name="Dunn"/> In November 1964, Matchitt was exhibited with other major Māori artists (Clive Arlidge and Fred Graham) in Hamilton.<ref>SKINNER Damian, 2008 - The Carver and the Artist, Maori Art in the Twentieth Century. Auckland : Auckland University Press. p.117</ref> At the time of the Te Pakanga commission (one of his greatest bodies of work) in 1974, Matchitt was an Arts Advisory Officer in South Auckland.<ref name="Chartwell"/> Matchitt is best known for his large-scale public sculpture such as the City to Sea Bridge in Wellington (1993) and Auckland’s Aotea Centre (1989).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://citygallery.org.nz/wellington-city-s-art-in-the-public-eye|title=Wellington City's Art in the Public Eye|date=3 March 2010|publisher=city gallery wellington|accessdate=1 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704092047/http://citygallery.org.nz/wellington-city-s-art-in-the-public-eye/|archive-date=4 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> thumb|Heritage Fountain, Napier. Several of Matchitt's works use symbols taken from Te Kooti's flag ''Te Wepu (The Whip),'' a large red pennant created by nuns at a Catholic mission which had various symbols on it: a crescent moon, a cross, a mountain, a heart pierced by an arrow, and a six-pointed star.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa|title=Dream Collectors: One Hundred Years of Art in New Zealand|publisher=Te Papa Press|year=1998|isbn=0-909010-48-X|location=Wellington, New Zealand|pages=118–119}}</ref> Matchitt used these symbols in several works including the City to Sea Bridge, Aotea Centre,<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=Metal and wood sculpture|url=https://www.aucklandlive.co.nz/metal-and-wood-sculpture|access-date=2021-11-01|website=Auckland Live|language=en}}</ref> 'Te Wepu Assemblage' (1986),<ref>{{Cite web|title="Te Wepu Assemblage"|url=https://artcollection.auckland.ac.nz/record/68568|access-date=2021-11-01|website=University of Auckland}}</ref> 'Te Wepu' (1986),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Te Wepu|url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/38080|access-date=2021-11-01|website=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa}}</ref> 'Huakina' (1986)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Huakina|url=https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/collection/86-59/paratene-matchitt/huakina|access-date=2021-11-01|website=christchurchartgallery.org.nz}}</ref> and "Heritage Fountain" ("Nga Puna Wai Whakapapa"), a fountain and metal sculpture in front of Napier Visitor Information Centre.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Hawke's Bay artist and sculptor Para Matchitt dies|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/hawkes-bay-artist-and-sculptor-para-matchitt-dies/DHHNRK76CHNP6AJFOT2ZGXM6GI/|access-date=2021-11-01|website=The New Zealand Herald |language=en-NZ}}</ref>
Matchitt's 'Ringatu III' in Alison Park on Waiheke Island had to be restored at the cost of $8,000 after being hit by taggers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/waiheke-marketplace/6531228/8000-fix-follows-attack-on-artwork|title=$8000 fix follows attack on artwork|date=6 March 2012}}</ref>
==Prison & legacy== Although Matchitt was a leading figure in contemporary art in New Zealand since the 1960s his work is currently not celebrated due to his criminal conviction.<ref name=":0" /> Matchitt was jailed for two and a half years in 2001, convicted of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10388260|title=Artist struggles to put troubles behind him|last=Haines|first=Leah |date=25 June 2006|publisher=New Zealand Herald |accessdate=18 February 2009}}</ref> In 2006 the High Court at Napier threw out charges against Matchitt of drugging and date-raping a 29-year-old woman, citing no evidence that the woman had either been drugged or raped.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10387389|title=Artist's rape charge dismissed|date=20 June 2006|publisher=New Zealand Herald |accessdate=18 February 2009}}</ref>
Matchitt's biography influences curators and writers in their consideration of promoting and including his work, for example a survey exhibition was put aside after his conviction.<ref name=":0" />
==Death== Matchitt died on 19 July 2021, aged 88.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/hawkes-bay-artist-and-sculptor-para-matchitt-dies/DHHNRK76CHNP6AJFOT2ZGXM6GI/ |title=Hawke's Bay artist and sculptor Para Matchitt dies |date=22 July 2021 |work=Hawke's Bay Today |access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search.aspx?advanced=colProProductionMakers%3a%22Matchitt%2c+Para%22+colCollectionGroup%3aCH Works in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matchitt, Paratene}} Category:1933 births Category:2021 deaths Category:People educated at Hato Petera College, Auckland Category:Auckland College of Education alumni Category:New Zealand painters Category:New Zealand Māori artists Category:People from Napier, New Zealand Category:People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Category:Te Whānau-ā-Apanui people Category:Whakatōhea people Category:Ngāti Porou people Category:New Zealand people convicted of child sexual abuse Category:People from Tokomaru Bay Category:20th-century New Zealand sculptors Category:21st-century New Zealand sculptors Category:21st-century New Zealand male artists Category:Dunedin College of Education alumni