NZ & International Fine Art - Part One Wednesday, 9 September 2020 - 6:00 PM start
Colin McCahon - Aeroplane and necessary protection
Lot Details
Colin McCahon (1919-87) Aeroplane and necessary protection conte on paper signed and dated 'Colin McCahon Easter '73' (lower left), inscribed 'Aeroplane & necessary protection Muriwai' (upper); Peter McLeavey Gallery stamp to reverse 22 x 29cm Provenance purchased Peter McLeavey Gallery c1973 by descent, Private collection Wellington Reference Colin McCahon database record number cm001151 Peter Simpson, Colin McCahon Is This the Promised Land? Vol. 2 1960-1987 (Auckland University Press 2020) p. 204. "In Auckland, over Easter weekend )20-22 April)...McCahon made dozens of drawings of Muriwai, most with Baxter in mind. He mentioned them to McLeavey as part of the 'direction I am going': 'I'm sending 33 drawings...You may be able to sell to your more civilised friends - price over to you...' The dominant motif among the drawings, present in at least thirty of them, is of a 'comic book' jet plane, resembling a flying cross, above the ocean; in some the cross is vertical/horizontal (a Latin cross), in most it is diagonal, in flight. Most - in pencil, conte, charcoal, or coloured crayons - dated 'Easter'73'. The word 'jet' is mentioned in many titles...Others include jets in the drawing but not in the titles, which seem to have been deliberately differentiated for identification purposes, including: Small plane heading to Three Kings, Crawl or fly out (twice), Boy, I would say get out, On leaving Muriwai and Oaia Island forever, Aeroplane and necessary protection, Ahipara and beyond - more than thirty-two drawings with jets (some may not yet be recorded). A dozen or so extremely minimal Easter drawings have the subtitle Fog drawings; while several have Stations of the Cross in their titles. The Easter drawings later provided the title for McCahon's 1973 exhibition at Barry Lett's (August), Jet Out from Muriwai, in which a group of them was included; some were also sent to McLeavey's in September but he chose not to hang them. The geographical references all relate to the Maori/Christian narrative that first emerged in McCahon's work in 1969: Muriwai, Oaia Island, Ahipara, Te Reinga, Three Kings Island. Baxter is never mentioned by name but there is no doubt that his death was their primary impetus...The bold immediacy and overt emotionalism of the Easter drawings, the impression they give of being dashed down spontaneously...The drawings all came in a rush of grief and expressiveness during one Easter weekend, like a jet taking off, while the paintings followed slowly. over several months, the product of prolonged contemplation during winter walks along Muriwai beach." Peter Simpson, Colin McCahon Is This the Promised Land? Vol. 2 1960-1987 (Auckland University Press 2020) p. 204 -5.
