Tuhourangi historian Rangitihi Pene is urging his tribe to purchase a rare 100-year-old painting by Charles Goldie at an auction.
The painting is of a Te Arawa Chieftainess from Whakarewarewa and was unknown in the art world until recently.
“I want to plan a meeting with the iwi so that we can sort out the finances to purchase the painting. If that doesn't work, we'll ask other boards within the tribe for the funding”, he says.
The woman in the painting is Ahinata Te Rangituatini who lived until she was 102. She was from Tuhourangi. Goldie's painting is expected to fetch up to $260,000 at an auction on Tuesday.
“She lived at Lake Tarawera till the eruption and took the long journey by foot to Ohinemutu.”
International Art Centre director Richard Thomson says they only found out about the painting when the owner contacted them to put it up for sale.
“She was one of the few elders with a rare nostril tattoo on her nose and she was one of the most popular subjects that Charles Frederick Goldie painted,” he says.