Colin McCahon

Colin McCahon (1919 - 1987) is now regarded as one of New Zealand's greatest painters and is undoubtedly New Zealand’s most well-known twentieth century artist. As both an artist and writer, he has had a profound influence not only on the modern generation of New Zealand painters but also on the way in which New Zealanders see their landscape. While his work traversed subjects as diverse as landscape, identity, religion, faith, doubt and the threat of warfare, his ultimate concern was the human condition.

Seeing the spirit of humankind and God within the New Zealand landscape, McCahon sought to communicate his concerns for faith, spirituality, life and death through his painting. In order to communicate these ideas, in his earlier works he frequently placed religious figures and scenes within the landscape, often making his biblical figures speak by means of text and cartoon-inspired speech bubbles. Preoccupied with religious and moral issues, his art dealt with Christian themes throughout his career either in the form of religious subjects or as texts from the Bible. 

Use of text in his paintings also included writing in Maori, poetry by John Caselberg and also often incorporated numbers. Employed to help portray his ideas, such use of text was in part inspired by his recollections of sign-writing on store windows he had seen in his youth. His interest in poetry and biblical literature, and the incorporation of text, culminated in his word paintings of the 1980s.

In the 1950s, the receiving of a Carnegie Grant to paint and study in the USA saw McCahon return to New Zealand with a new appreciation for the scale of modern American paintings and abstract expressionism, and he began to create ‘paintings to walk by’ resulting in large landscape abstractions on panels of unstretched canvas. Throughout his career, McCahon was also influenced by the Cubists, Piet Mondrian and closer to home by Toss Woolaston through whom he also developed an interest in the work of Paul Cezanne.

Many of McCahon’s landscapes were based on journeys he had taken through regions of New Zealand, in particular areas of Otago, Canterbury, Nelson and Northland. Moving to West Auckland in the 1960s, he later established a studio at Muriwai Beach where several major series based in and around this part of Auckland were produced. Many of these works related to Auckland’s west coast and were inspired by McCahon’s environmental concerns of the region.

Not only was McCahon a remarkable painter, but the critical thought and philosophical enquiry of his works carry great weight, continuing to resonate with viewers today. His works are held in all major public and private collections throughout the country and in many collections and institutions worldwide.