May His light shine (Tau Cross)
May His light shine (Tau Cross)
-
Artist
-
Production Date
1978-1979
-
Medium
synthetic polymer paint on unstretched canvas
-
Size
1875 x 2380 mm
-
Credit
Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 1980
-
Accession Number
C1994/1/64
-
Accession Date
Apr 1980
-
Department
New Zealand Art
-
Classification
Painting
-
Collection
Chartwell
-
Subjects
Christianity, religious art, crosses (objects), text, handwriting, belief & doubt, faith
-
Description
This is one of Colin McCahon’s last landscapes of urban Auckland. The idea for the work began from the fact that the artist’s son had almost transformed his parents’ Muriwai home into a nursery for young kumara plants.
As well, the artist was fascinated with the ancient taumata atua (fertility stone) that is named Rongo that rests in Cornwall Park. The stone is a spiritual conduit for a garden’s fecundity. McCahon recognised that Auckland once had extensive kumara gardens because of the region’s fertile volcanic soil.
(Local Atlas, 2004)
![[Flower]](https://api.chartwell.org.nz/records/images/large/66/5b92b1fb1b75605e90f01f7769238072bd5d6348.jpg)
