Colin McCahon: A Question of Faith
Lazarus and Practical Religion

The title Practical religion was one which McCahon had first given to a group of Scrolls. The texts for these works were drawn from the biblical books of James I and A Letter to Hebrews and reflected practical instruction and advice on how one might lead a Christian life on an everyday basis. Among a variety of sources, other Scrolls used quotations from Matire Kereama's The Tail of the Fish: Maori memories of the Far North and from a book of poetry, Journey Towards an Elegy, by the New Zealand poet Peter Hooper.

Now McCahon extended the Practical religion series title to include Practical religion: the resurrection of Lazarus showing Mount Martha 1969–70. In the painting's subtitle, McCahon both identifies the story depicted and, by the reference to Mount Martha (a geological feature in the Central Otago region of the South Island), firmly grounds the story in New Zealand. Although the use of text dominates, this work remains underpinned by a vast landscape motif.

Practical religion: the resurrection of Lazarus showing Mount Martha 1969–70, is perhaps best characterised as a visual litany; a meditation on the resurrection of Lazarus with a particular focus on the faith, obedience and patience of Lazarus's sister Martha. The central themes are doubt, death and resurrection. Reading from the left, the participants in the story, and the events that overtook and occupied them, unfold across the canvas. Each speaker is given a different size of typeface, and their attitudes to the unfolding drama are implied by tonal changes, the intensity of the colour ascribed to their words, or the placement of the words in brackets. In doing this, McCahon sought to depict the existential aspects of doubt, assertion, faith and resurrection.

 

 

Maori Influence and the New English Bible

After a brief engagement with Maori culture in 1965, 1969 saw McCahon again consider aspects of the life of New Zealand's indigenous people. The specific catalyst for this was his daughter Catherine's gift of a book entitled The Tail of the Fish: Maori memories of the Far North. In this book, the author Matire Kereama recounts the genealogy, stories and history of her tribe, Te Aupouri, whose traditional lands occupy the very northern tip of the North Island. Another reason for McCahon's interest was the marriage of his other daughter, Victoria, to a Maori man, Ken Carr and, later, the birth of their first child. An interest in the culture of his new Maori relatives coincided with an increased concern about Maori issues generally amongst New Zealanders at that time.

In the words of McCahon: 'From August to October I struggled with Mrs Kereama's Lark's song. I loved it, I read the poem out loud while I painted and finally the little lark took off up the painting and out of sight. The words must be read for their sound, they are signs for the lark's song… This whole series of paintings gave me great joy. Please don't give yourself the pain of worrying out a translation of the words but try for the sound of the painting. But never forget that these are the words of a poet too. Some people can read them.' (1972)

'After Lark's song I got onto reading the New English Bible and re-reading my favourite passages. I re-discovered good old Lazarus. Now this is one of the most beautiful and puzzling stories in the New Testament – like the Elias story this one takes you through several levels of feeling and being. It hit me, BANG! at where I was: questions and answers, faith so simple and beautiful and doubts still pushing to somewhere else. It really got me down with joy and pain. I loved painting it …' (1972).

The result, a series of paintings based on the Lazarus story with the general title Practical religion, included McCahon's two largest works to date, Practical religion: the resurrection of Lazarus showing Mount Martha 1969 –70, and Victory over Death 2 1970, McCahon's capability to work on this scale was enabled by his establishment, in the last months of 1969, of a new, larger studio, located near the beach township of Muriwai, 40 kms northwest of Auckland.

 

Colin McCAHON
New Zealander 1919–87
Practical religion: The resurrection of Lazarus showing Mount Martha 1969–70
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
207.5 x 807.0 cm
Museum of Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand
Purchased, 1985, New Zealand Lottery Grants Board with assistance from the Molly Morpeth Canaday Fund
Reproduced with the permission of the Colin McCahon Research and Publication Trust