Cliff Whiting

Clifford Hamilton Whiting (6 May 1936 – 16 July 2017) was a New Zealand artist, teacher and advocate for Māori heritage.

In 1955, Whiting began teacher training at Wellington Teachers' College where his artistic talents were quickly recognised.

His teacher training coincided with the Department of Education's drive to develop Māori and Western European culture in schools.

Whiting was selected as a district advisor in arts and crafts and, with other young Māori artists including John Bevan Ford, Sandy Adsett, Cath Brown, Ralph Hotere, Paratene Matchitt, Muru Walters and Marilyn Webb, was supported and encouraged by Gordon Tovey, the national supervisor for arts and crafts, to explore and promote traditional and contemporary Māori art within the New Zealand educational system.

As a district advisor Whiting worked with local Māori communities as well as schools to encourage engagement with Māori art.

Constrained by the price and lack of availability of traditional timbers and tools he explored and encouraged the use of modern materials, especially particle and hard boards, and bold colours.

These new materials and techniques combined with traditional subjects contributed to the development of his innovative artistic style.

During the 1970s Whiting accepted the position of lecturer in Māori art at Palmerston North Teachers' College where he introduced the concept of student marae visits and continued to encourage the inclusion of Māori art in schools.

Whiting joined the New Zealand Historic Places Trust and in 1974 served on the trust's Māori Heritage Advisory Committee.

He also worked with the Historic Places Trust as the Māori buildings adviser and become a leading authority on the restoration of Māori buildings.

Whiting participated in the Historic Places Trust's first marae conservation project at Manutuke.

It had always been the trust's policy to work in partnership with iwi and hapū when restoring marae.

Whiting felt that it was his role to establish and maintain a close connection between the trust and those iwi (tribes) participating in the various projects.

Whiting also continued to develop his art.

He was one of the first Māori artists to illustrate for school publications such as Te Wharekura and Tautoko.

He also regularly accepted commissions for large-scale murals including:

He also completed murals for:

His work is featured in the collections of:

In 1979 he directed and led the carving, kōwhaiwhai, painting and kākaho panels of the college's wharenui (carved meeting houses) Te Kupenga o Te Mātauranga.

Whiting's work with Māori communities and his belief in the importance on the role of the marae in maintaining and revitalising Māori arts and culture led him to contribute to and lead in restoring historic wharenui and other marae buildings.

He was encouraged in this by Pineamine Taiapa, a renowned, traditionally trained carver and a relation of Whiting's on his mother's side of the family.

Whiting became involved in arts administration and in 1979 was appointed to the Council for Māori and Pacific Arts (now known as Te Waka Toi).

This was the first exhibition of Māori art in the United States since Te Māori had been presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1984.

He became the chairman in 1988.

He was also a member and deputy chair of the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council (now known as Creative New Zealand).

Whiting played a significant role in a number of important exhibitions in the 1990s, each accompanied by a publication.

He was able to show how Māoritanga could drive the re-evaluation of contemporary art and craft in Aotearoa New Zealand.

In 1990 he was one of three selector/curators (the other two were Justine Olsen and John Parker) for the New Zealand Craft Council’s exhibition Mau Mahara: our Stories in Craft.

Whiting introduced into the exhibition unique functional and historical objects, such as the harpoon that caught the last whale off Te Kaha, and ensured that the exhibition took a wider cultural perspective.

He was also a key member of the curatorium for Headlands: Thinking Through New Zealand Art that opened at the MCA in Sydney in 1992.

In the same year Whiting helped curate Te Waka Toi: Contemporary Māori Art from New Zealand which toured five US venues.

In 1993 he joined the staff of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa becoming Director of Māori and Bicultural Development.

In 1995 he was appointed Kaihautū, or joint chief executive, of the museum working in partnership with Cheryll Sotheran.

He led the exploration of the museum's bicultural processes based on the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi working with museum staff to develop the Māori exhibitions and care for and display the taonga (treasures) from around New Zealand held by the museum.

In particular he led the design and construction of the contemporary marae Rongomaraeroa and the wharenui Te Hono ki Hawaiki.

The marae complex is situated on the fourth floor of the museum and was completed for the new building's opening with a dawn ceremony and pōwhiri on 14 February 1998.

This marae is where all of the museum's formal welcome ceremonies are held and is open for the general public to view during the museum's opening hours.

After leaving the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa he was appointed kaumātua to Tourism New Zealand in December 2000.

His role was to provide advice and ensure that Maāori culture was correctly portrayed when Tourism New Zealand marketed New Zealand as an international visitor destination.

The successful 100% Pure New Zealand global marketing campaign featured Māori culture as a point of difference from other international destinations and Tourism New Zealand wanted to ensure that any portrayal of Māori culture was sensitive and culturally acceptable, but also innovative and contemporary.