Thursday 8 August 2019 10:49pm
Colin McCahon, I am (1954), oil on canvas: 361x555mm. Charles Brasch Bequest, 1973, Hocken Pictorial Collections Uare Taoka o Hākena, 73/191. Courtesy of the Colin McCahon Research and Publication Trust.
Widely recognised as one of New Zealand’s foremost painters, Colin McCahon’s legacy as an artist and teacher is being celebrated this year.
Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena, is providing several opportunities this weekend to commemorate the centenary of his birth in 1919.
The events coincide with McCAHON 100, a nationwide celebration of the centenary in partnership with McCahon House.
McCahon’s distinctive work encompassed many themes, subjects and styles, from landscape to figuration and abstraction and an innovative use of painted text.
Three leading artists will share the influence he had on their work and practice at an invitation only event at the Hocken tomorrow night.
Marilynn Webb, 2019 Frances Hodgkins Fellow Imogen Taylor, and Jeffrey Harris will be speaking about what McCahon means to them, along with Hocken Librarian Sharon Dell and Chair of the McCahon House Museum Trust & Artists’ Residency Cynthia Smith.
Wystan Curnow talks about writing on Colin McCahon
On Saturday morning distinguished New Zealand art critic, poet, academic and curator Wystan Curnow will give an illuminating talk on McCahon.
Curnow’s interactions with the artist date back to the 1950s, when he undertook painting classes with him, while some of his earliest art writings include reviews of dealer shows by McCahon in the 1960s.
He has continued to be a champion of his work, in particular as curator of I Will Need Words, an exhibition of McCahon’s word and number paintings for the 1984 Biennale of Sydney, and as part of Under Capricorn: The World Over at the Stedelijk in Amsterdam in 1996.
For many years Curnow has written about McCahon in the context of 20th-century Euro-American modernism especially alongside international figures such as Barnett Newman and Jasper Johns, as well as in the context of his remoteness from it.
He is currently working on a book about McCahon, which will be the focus of this talk.
The talk starts at 11am on Saturday in the Hocken Library Seminar Room, entry is free.
A Garden of Earthly Delights
A flower model is one of the many beautiful objects on display in the Hocken's most popular exhibition for the past 10 years, A Garden of Earthly Delights.
Several of McCahon’s works are featured in the Hocken’s current exhibition A Garden of Earthly Delights, which closes on Sunday.
It has been the most highly visited Hocken exhibition for the past 10 years, with both young and old enjoying the juxtaposition of art and scientific objects on display.
A Garden of Earthly Delights is open as usual from 10am to 5pm on Saturday, and, as a special conclusion, from 2pm to 5pm on Sunday.
Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena, 90 Anzac Ave, Dunedin, is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. For more information: hocken@otago.ac.nz 03 479 8868.