You might have a knee jerk reaction to Gottfried Lindauer's style of anthropological portraiture.

If you’re a #wokebae, there’s a lot that’s icky-feeling about white Europeans traipsing around the world colonizing everything, and commodifying native peoples as objects of curiosity in the process. This would be a valid reaction to Gottfried Lindauer’s work, which was widely collected by European colonizers (or Pākehā) in a nod to New Zealand’s “exotic” history.

But, it’s not so simple. Many wealthy Māori leaders also commissioned these works for their own collections of finery, and Lindauer’s portraits became coveted treasures that fell in line with the Māori affinity for status symbols. Today, some Māori families still own Lindauer portraits of their ancestors. These prized paintings are viewed as potent reminders of family members that keep their ancestral presence alive. For the rest of us, they’re an exceptional glimpse into the crazy collision of worlds that must have taken place when Dutch and British settlers first arrived in New Zealand.

Lindauer was Czech-born, and established himself as a successful painter in Europe before coming to New Zealand in 1874 (his family says he intended to head for the US, but got on the wrong boat). Luckily, New Zealand suited Lindauer. He integrated his life with Māori communities very intimately, often living with the families he painted. His subjects were known to feel at ease with him, which must have helped him to capture their personalities so warmly.

Lindauer had some funny painting habits. He was an early artist to work from photographs, sometimes going so far as to paint right over them. He was also known to make copies of his own paintings upon request.

Kiwi curators are on the hunt for around 100 works from Lindauer’s oeuvre whose whereabouts are unknown. Not that they’ve been stolen--simply that they’re known to exist, but are in anonymous private collections. Given how valued these paintings are by Māori owners, it’s unlikely that too many of them will be offered up to museums.

Aware of the demand for Lindauer’s work, some people are getting a little cray. In 2017 two paintings were stolen from the International Art Center in Auckland, NZ in a “ram raid” (thieves drove a car through plate glass windows on the side of the building, snatched the paintings, then peaced out). The paintings are valued collectively at $790,000.