Find Lots

• Auction House:
  Webb's
• Sale Name:
  Important Paintings and Contemporary Art
• Sale Date:
  06 Dec 2011 ~ 6.30pm (NZ Time)
• Lot #:
  53
• Lot Description:
  Colin McCahon
  In his seminal text on the life and work of McCahon – Colin McCahon: Artist – Gordon Brown asserts that McCahon can be seen as a proponent of prac
  ink on paper
  620mm x 495mm
  signed McCahon, dated April '59 and inscribed Northland in brushpoint lower centre
• Provenance:
  Purchased by the current owners from the Barry Lett Gallery, circa 1964.
• Notes:
  In his seminal text on the life and work of McCahon - Colin McCahon: Artist - Gordon Brown asserts that McCahon can be seen as a proponent of practical religion: a faith that 'unfolds in the everyday events of human existence and in circumstance applicable to everyone'. 'My painting', says McCahon, 'is almost entirely autobiographical - it tells you where I am at any given time, where I am living and the direction I am pointing in.' This Northland painting is a visual record of one man's relationship with a particular piece of earth. While elsewhere religion can be seen to be a tormenting, unbalancing influence on the artist's life, in this work we see an artist who at ease with both the pragmatics of modern life and the ideals of Christianity: it is a recognition of the landscape's immediate beauty as well as an acknowledgement of the profound force that he believed to be responsible for its existence. Ink is not a material that drapes itself over a surface; it is not a covering that can be used to conceal or change a surface from one colour to another. Ink stains. Upon contact, ink plunges itself into a surface and saturates its support and yet, in McCahon's Northland works, the ink feels light. The slight, gentle variances between brush strokes suggest that the wash has hovered for a split second before seeping into the surface below. In reality, the tonal variances are the result of fast and rapid movement, the motion of the artist's hand outpacing the weight of the ink. The Northland works are the product of an artist with a newfound understanding of the gravity and implication of the human gesture. They were produced shortly after the artist's tour of the United States in 1958. The tour was funded by the Auckland City Council and the Carnegie Trust and it was envisaged that the artist's exposure to large American art institutions would benefit his own practice as an arts administrator. McCahon visited institutions in every major American centre and it was here that, for the first time, he was exposed to the new school of expressionist painting championed by practitioners such as de Kooning, Rothko, Motherwell and Pollock. This contact can be seen to have had a direct bearing on the works that McCahon made on his return to New Zealand. CHARLES NINOW
• Estimate:
  NZ$45,000 - 55,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

  Can't see the realised price? Upgrade your subscription now!

• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.