Colin McCahon is recognised as New Zealand's most significant artist of the 20th century, exploring questions of spiritual faith and religious doubt for more than 40 years. McCahon was largely self-taught, influenced by Romanticism and then Abstract Expressionism. His earliest mature works were produced in the years following World War II and depicted religious events relocated into the New Zealand landscape and influenced by early Italian Renaissance painters such as Giotto.
Read MoreIn 1953 McCahon moved from Christchurch to Auckland—New Zealand's main city—taking up a position on the staff at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. In 1958 he visited the United States, where his discovery of Abstract Expressionism influenced the scale and ambition of his painting. This resulted in works such as the 'Northland Panels' (1958), which represented an unprecedented philosophical engagement with the New Zealand landscape and an assimilation of international practice.
McCahon's painting during the 1960s and 1970s continued to surprise critics and supporters. For example, Victory over death 2 (1970) and Teaching aids 2 (July) (1975) abandoned pictorial images for text. These late works influenced many contemporary artists on both sides of the Tasman and beyond.
McCahon's work is held in the collections of almost all of New Zealand's major public art galleries, as well as those of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; and other major public and private collections in Australia and Europe.
Ocula | 2019
