Paratene Matchitt

Paratene Matchitt (born 1933) is a New Zealand sculptor and painter. He is 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.

Paratene Matchitt was born in Tokomaru Bay, East Cape. He is of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Te Whakatōhea and Ngāti Porou descent. Matchitt attended St Peter’s Maori Boys College.

Matchitt's art formation began with helping his father and grandfather on his workshop at Edgecombe. He went to Auckland Teachers' Training College in 1955 and 1956. After graduating as a teacher, he took a Dunedin-based course in teaching arts and crafts in schools. In 1957, he began his career as arts and craft 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. In November 1964, Matchitt was exhibited with other major Māori artists (Clive Arlidge and Fred Graham) in Hamilton. 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. 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).

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