Gate III

Gate III, 1970, synthetic polymer paint 3050x10670 mm. Courtesy Victoria University of Wellington and McCahon Research and Publication Trust.

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Vivienne Stone (McCahon House Museum Trust), Sir David, Dame Patsy, Dame Robin White, Eve Armstrong and Shane Cotton

The Governor General The Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy

Governor-General of New Zealand

Kia ora koutou 

Last August, it was my privilege to host the launch of commemorations to mark one hundred years since Colin McCahon’s birth.  

This centennial year has invited us to revisit his work and celebrate his contribution to the development of a more confident and nuanced sense of identity for New Zealanders – so that we all could – in the words of Alan Curnow – discover ‘the trick of standing upright here’.  

Colin McCahon helped shape the way that we have thought about art in this country. He responded to international modernism and made work that was specific to Aotearoa New Zealand – drawing on different bodies of knowledge, including religious texts, Māori beliefs and history, poetry, geology and art history. 

I vividly remember my first encounter with a McCahon. I was 17, a first-year student at Victoria University, newly arrived from Hamilton – with no prior experience of contemporary art – or much art at all. 

When I encountered that massive and confronting declaration of “I AM”, it hit me like a visual sledgehammer.  

Seeing McCahon’s Gate III at Victoria University was a life-changing experience, the beginning of my journey into the world of contemporary art of Aotearoa New Zealand – and it has been a joyous experience. 

When Dame Robin White, Shane Cotton and Eve Armstrong spoke at the centennial launch, their accounts of their artistic journey confirmed McCahon’s towering influence as a painter, curator, teacher and writer. 

Since then I have had an opportunity to visit McCahon House myself. We are fortunate to have access to a site which provides such rich insights into McCahon’s life and art practice. 

The centennial of his birth invited us to look back, and it also invites us to look forward to the bi-centenary of his birth, when McCahon’s timeless works will be undoubtedly part of our visual culture, New Zealanders will be tracing his influence on our nation’s artistic journey, and he will live on in the national imagination. 

Kia ora huihui tātou katoa 

CONNECTING CULTURAL LEGACY WITH CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE

Index
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Bridget Riggir-Cuddy
The House Protects the Dreamer
Naomi McCleary
Kauri
Séraphine Pick
Northland Panels
Brian Sweeney
The view from the top of the cliff
Rudi Fuchs
North Otago Landscape
Rex Butler
I Considered All the Acts of Oppression
Donna McDonald
The Fourteen Stations of the Cross
Harold Jones
Muriwai no.7
Ted Spring
On Building Bridges
Areez Katki
The Three Marys at the Tomb
Rosanna Raymond
Jet Out
Rufus Knight
Waterfall
Megan Tamati-Quennell
Black Landscape
Nick Mitzevich
Victory over Death 2
Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern
Victory over Death 2
The Governor General The Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy
Gate III
Grant Banbury
I Paul
Sir Bob Harvey
Dark Landscape
Young Old Girls Christchurch Girls’ High
North Otago Landscape 19
Sophie Bannan
Van Gogh - poems by John Caselberg
Linda Tyler
Urewera Triptych
Emily Karaka
Tangi. Muriwai
Robert Gardiner
Are there not twelve hours of daylight
Thomas Crow
Are there not twelve hours of daylight
Jude Rae
Victory over death 2
Brent Harris
The Family
Cora-Allan Wickliffe
15 Drawings Dec '51 to May '52
Salome Tanuvasa
Landscape
Yona Lee
Landscape theme and variations (series B)
David Kirk
Kaipara
Priscilla Pitts
Fourteen Stations of the Cross
Ruth Watson
This day a man is
Tessa Laird
Keep New Zealand Green
Nell
East window
Nicola Farquhar
Kauri trees
Hon Grant Robertson
Otago Peninsula
Jane Macknight
Untitled (North Otago Landscape)
Karen Walker
Titirangi
Wystan Curnow
The Green Plain
Philip Clarke
Necessary Protection (IHS)
Mary Kisler
A candle in a dark room
Ayesha Green
I AM
Matthew O'Reilly
Muriwai
Bettina Bradbury and Kararaina Rangihau
A poster for the Urewera no. 2
Al Keating
A Grain of wheat
Cushla Dillon
Entombment (after Titian)
Hamish Coney
Here I give thanks to Mondrian
Stephen Wainwright
As there is a constant flow of light we are born into the pure land
Sue Gardiner
Landscape theme and variations (series A)
Robert Leonard
Numerals
Judy Darragh
Clouds 1
John Coley
AS THERE IS A CONSTANT FLOW OF LIGHT WE ARE BORN INTO THE PURE LAND
Shannon Te Ao
Ka pōraruraru ahau. I am troubled.
Helen Beaglehole
GATE III
Ralph Paine
Jump E9
Judy Millar
Muriwai: Necessary Protection
Fiona Pardington
Waterfall
C.K. Stead
All mortals are like grass
Gretchen Albrecht
As there is a constant flow of light we are born into the pure land
Martin Edmond
Cross (1959)
Lisa Reihana
Urewera mural
Peter Simpson
Jet out to Te Reinga
Christina Barton
Gate III
Dame Jenny Gibbs
I Considered All the Acts of Oppression
Zoe Black
Ruby Bay
Jim Barr and Mary Barr
Oaia and clouds
Vivienne Stone
Tomorrow will be the same but not as this is
Kate Sylvester
Northland Panels