Colin McCahon, The Lark’s Song, 1969. Acrylic on two wooden doors, overall 162.6 x 198 cm.Unless, like me, you are not from New Zealand, you’ve probably never heard of the artist Colin McCahon. Regarded by many as New Zealand’s greatest painter, McCahon (1919-1987) created many works in a variety of styles, from landscapes to religious-spiritual narrative paintings, to cosmic spiritual abstractions. But it’s his strange, (mostly) religious text paintings that really stand out for me. And not surprising for someone so compelled to put many words into his paintings, he has some great titles; here are some of my favorites:
- A Fall Of Light Illuminating Darkness
- Fog Drawings
- A Painting For Uncle Frank
- About The State Of The Tide
- This Day A Man Is
- Moby Dick Is (Was) A Volcano
- Necessary Protection
- Rocks In The Sky
- A Handkerchief For St Veronica
- Mondrian’s Last Chrysanthemum
- Throw Out The Lifeline
- Tomorrow Will Be The Same But Not As This Is
Colin McCahon, Teaching aids 2 (June), 1975. Acrylic on Steinbach paper, 10 sheets, each 109.2 x 72.8 cm, overall size 218.4 x 364 cm.
Colin McCahon, Teaching aids 2 (July), 1975. Acrylic on Steinbach paper, 10 sheets, each 109.2 x 72.8 cm, overall size 218.4 x 364 cm.
Colin McCahon, Teaching aids 3, 1975. Acrylic on Steinbach paper, 10 sheets, each 109.2 x 72.8 cm, overall size 218.4 x 364 cm.
Colin McCahon, Scared, 1976. Acrylic paper, 73 x 109.5 cm.
Colin McCahon, Victory Over Death, 1970. Acrylic on unstretched canvas, 207.5 x 597.7 cm.Also interesting is the similarity of some of McCahon’s text paintings to the “picture-poems” being done at the same time on the other side of the world by the poet Kenneth Patchen, but I’ll save that comparison for a future post.
(Sources: History of our World | The Colin McCahon Online Catalogue )
Sources: History of our World | The Colin McCahon Online Catalogue
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