Lot #24 - Colin McCahon
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Auction House:Mossgreen-Webb's
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Sale Name:Important Paintings & Contemporary Art
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Sale Date:29 Nov 2016 ~ 6.30pm (NZ time)
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Lot #:24
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Lot Description:Colin McCahon
Jump E23
synthetic polymer paint on unstretched jute canvas mounted on board, 1974
920mm x 633mm
signed C McC, dated '74 in brushpoint lower left, inscribed (E23) in brushpoint lower right -
Provenance:Sold Brooke/Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, 1982; Sold Dunbar Sloane, Wellington, August 2008; Sold Deutscher-Menzies, Melbourne, May 2001.
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References:Illustrated: Johnston, Alexa. Colin McCahon: Gates and Journeys , Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, 1988, p. 81; Brown, Gordon. Colin McCahon: Artist , A. H. ; A. W. Reed Ltd, Wellington, 1984, p. 166. Reference: Colin McCahon database www.colinmccahon.co.nz, reference cm000889.
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Notes:McCahon's Jump (E23) is a beautiful and most intriguing work. Although clearly located within the Jump series, as identified by its number E23 (all the Jump paintings are designated with the prefix 'E') and first exhibited in the exhibition Jumps and Comets - related events in my world at the Barry Lett Galleries in 1974, it differs in significant and surprising ways from other works in the series. The word 'JUMP' is not used on the painting, nor does it contain the dotted or serrated lines present in all other Jump paintings; nor is unambiguously a landscape image as other Jump paintings are, though it does include some indubitable landscape elements such as the dark band of cloud at the top or the horizontal line across the middle of the painting which is distinctly horizon-like (especially given the delicate thin line of blue). Instead of reading the painting primarily as landscape it is helpful to reverse the figure/ground relationship and simultaneously read the image (semiotically) as a visual sign. According to this way of reading (which doesn't exclude but complicates the 'landscape' reading by adding additional layers of meaning (a feature of McCahon's work in the Muriwai period), the bluish/lavender shape reads as a giant I or ONE; the I becomes the figure not the ground. Read this way the painting is primarily a religious statement about the power of God, as represented in some other paintings by the words I AM. In this respect E23 closely resembles paintings in the earlier Necessary Protection series (1971-72) which preceded Jumps by a couple of years. Necessary Protection was a huge series which abstracted the unique landscape features of Muriwai (cliff and island pinnacle), and deliberately exploited figure/ground ambiguities. The paintings read simultaneously as abstracted landscapes and as 'sign' paintings, with the 'figure' being either I or T depending whether the rectangular blocks forming the 'ground' extend to the bottom of the painting or stop short of it, as in E23 . In the catalogue to Necessary Protection McCahon wrote: 'The symbols are very simple. The I of the sky, falling light and enlightened land, is also ONE. The T of the sky and light falling into a dark landscape is also the T of the Tau or Old Testament cross'. Seen in this context the essential character of E23 falls into place. Another element in Necessary Protection was the notion of the earth and humanity as needing 'protection' both in an environmental and a more spiritual sense. This element of care is present in E23 in the fragility and tenderness of the colouring, especially the faint washes of lilac colour which seep downwards from that unexpected blue line, faintly staining the raw canvas in striking contrast to the thickly outlined open rectangles. It is exquisitely rendered. E23 is in every way a rich and subtle work, distinctive both in colour and form - a belated Necessary Protection painting which has 'jumped' into a different series. Peter Simpson
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Estimate:NZ$165,000 - 200,000
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Realised Price:
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Category:Art
This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.
