Tale of 22-year-old Tahitian man whose name became Omai

The Arts Society Newbury lecture: The Cult of the Celebrity, presented by Leslie Primo on April 25. Review by Daniel Carr

In April 2023 the painting of the Portrait of Omai by Sir Joshua Reynolds was finally bought for £50m, jointly, by the National Portrait Gallery and the Getty Museum of Los Angeles. This coincided with The Arts Society Newbury’s planned lecture of Omai by our lecturer Leslie Primo.

Leslie worked at the National Gallery for 18 years and now teaches art history at Imperial College London. He has presented on BBC television on Michelangelo, Turner, and others.

In the decade of the 1770s Captain James Cook made a number of scientific explorations to the Pacific Ocean and in particular the Tahitian Islands. A 22-year-old Tahitian man, whose name became Omai, saw an opportunity that, by befriending the powerful British he might be able reclaim the lands that had been stollen from his family in the past. He therefore signed on as an Abel Seaman on one of Capt. Cook’s vessels sailing for England. Sir Joseph Banks, subsequently President of the Royal Society onboard Cook’s vessel took Omai under his protection and looked after Omai during his three years stay in London. Omai became a “man about town“ with smart clothes, meeting the “right” people and even being introduced to King George III. Reynolds, by then an already well-known painter and a friend of Banks saw an opportunity to paint the young man.

The lecture made the compelling case that at the height of Britain’s advancement in science, economic, military, and seafaring powers, a portrait in the grand classical manner of someone exotic would validate Britain’s global reach while also adding lustre to Reynolds’ public persona. Looking at Reynolds’ portrait painting activities including some of his many self-portraits, we also saw alternative portraits of Omai by Reynolds and by other artists. The final iconic portrait bore only a slight resemblance to Omai. His face and colour had been softened and the clothes while statuesque were never worn by Omai in London or Tahiti. To achieve this look, Omai and Reynolds worked together. Their goals: Reynold, fame and fortune, Omai to hopefully to recover his lands. Sadly, Omai died only two years after returning to Tahiti never having seen the finished portrait of himself and was never able to reclaim his lands.

Leslie explained the background to this wonderful painting, his slides were excellent and added to all this the lecture was fun and entertaining.

There were many questions from the audience which kept us all amused until the Chair closed the proceedings and thanked Leslie Primo for returning to Newbury to give another excellent lecture.