Colin McCahon (1919 –1987): Prophet in the Wilderness
Lloyd Geering delivered this address to the Christchurch Art Gallery on April 12 2008. Here is part 2. We have added links after the discussion of most artworks that you can follow to see them.
To realise that the world we live in is partly of our own creation makes us realise that what we often take to be as objective as a rock is partly subjective. Our world changes as we change and grow. And our world comes to an end when we come to an end. We have to come to terms with our mortality. During the 20th century it was becoming more common for people to accept their mortality as the old Christian certainties about immortality began to lose their power. That is why death in one form or another surfaced regularly throughout McCahon's painting career. To accept our human mortality, we have to see death in a more positive light. Death is actually just as important a part of our world as life. This McCahon expressed in Sacred to the Memory of Death (1955). The words come from a Turner drawing in the Auckland City Art Gallery and suggest a positive attitude to human mortality, such as that found in the hymn of St. Francis, who spoke of ‘kind and gentle death’.
Bibliography
Apart from a multitude of smaller publications, many written for specific exhibitions, the two following comprehensive books are recommended. Both are generously illustrated, and should be readily available in New Zealand libraries:
Gordon H. Brown, Colin McCahon Artist, A.H. and A.W. Reed, 1984; revised edition (Auckland, Reed, 1993).
Marja Bloem and Martin Browne, Colin McCahon: A Question of Faith (Amsterdam, Stedilijk Museum and Nelson, Craig Potton Publishing, 2002.