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• Auction House:
  Webb's
• Sale Name:
  Important Paintings and Contemporary Art
• Sale Date:
  06 Dec 2011 ~ 6.30pm (NZ Time)
• Lot #:
  23
• Lot Description:
  Colin McCahon
  Colin McCahon – Necessary Protection Necessary Protection, torn straight from the artist's sketchbook, belongs to sprawling series of works
  charcoal on paper
  460mm x 610mm
  signed McCahon, dated '71 and inscribed Necessary Protection in pencil lower edge
• Exhibited:
  A significant number of Necessary Protection paintings and drawings were exhibited in McCahon's 1971 exhibition, Necessary Protection, Barry Lett Galleries, Auckland, 1 - 12 November 1971. No catalogue accompanied the exhibition so it is not possible to determine exactly which works were shown on that occasion.
• References:
  Colin McCahon Database Reference (www.mccahon.co.nz) cm000339
• Notes:
  Colin McCahon - Necessary Protection Necessary Protection, torn straight from the artist's sketchbook, belongs to sprawling series of works defined by both a central conceptual framework and a common set of formal constraints. The works from this series are loosely based on both the sunset and the cliff formations that the artist observed at Muriwai Beach. The cliffs on either side of the beach are described by the two blocks of dark, negative space and the sunset is contained by the Tau shape in the centre of the image. Necessary Protection is not a reflection on one place in particular. Rather, in this work, the artist has sought to address the relationship between human beings and the earth beneath them. In the catalogue for his 1971 Earth/Earth exhibition at Barry Lett Galleries in Auckland, McCahon told of a cliff section at Muriwai that had been put on the market: just like everything else, he lamented, it was for sale. Further, he speculated that if it were bought by someone who sought to develop the land, it would set in motion a vicious cycle that would only lead to further gentrification and the gradual pollution of the black-sand beach that he loved so dearly with plasticised 'sundae' containers and ice-cream sticks and wrappings and plastic bags from the new season's bikinis . It feels slightly off-key to refer to any of McCahon's work as protest pieces as he was not an artist who provided the viewer with straightforward readings that could be shouted out across the room. However, upon first glance, the full frontal weight of the cliff faces makes them appear almost as barricades, thrown up by the artist as if to say stop! The Tau form and the landscape draw meaning from each other. In this early iteration of the series, the artist has purposefully chosen not to define whether the sky has been framed by the landscape or, alternatively, whether the Tau form has been juxtaposed on top. Most readily, the Tau form presents itself as a divine entity. It appears almost like the mid-section of a crucifix and it is implied that, beyond the viewer's narrow frame of reference, the form extends up into the heavens and down through the core of the earth. Further, it also serves as an illustration of an uphill path to enlightenment. Outside of Christian imagery, the symbol Tau, from the Greek alphabet, has other connotations of which the artist was well aware. In mathematical equations, Tau serves as a symbol for time and, when set into the picture plane with this charge, its infliction is altered considerably. In this light, we see a diorama of the future that McCahon predicts. Stripped of its character, the Tau has cut the landscape into a uniform mass. Produced with only rudimentary materials and completed in the same setting in which it was commenced, Necessary Protection is a direct translation of the artist's thought and feeling. The staple format - the divided landscape that inverts to a Tau - was used by the artist like a ready-made: a set of concerns and associations that could easily be inserted into a work simply by drawing the shape. Each time it was used, the treatment altered slightly and some new understanding was gained; thus McCahon repeated the Necessary Protection form exclusively for a period of two years. This series is responsible for the introduction of symbolic, hard-edged abstraction into the artist's work. CHARLES NINOW
• Estimate:
  NZ$35,000 - 45,000
• 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.