Colin McCahon: A Question of Faith
Necessary protection and the Muriwai

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.

 

Colin McCAHON
New Zealand, 1919–87
Muriwai. A necessary protection landscape 1972
synthetic polymer paint on hardboard
61.0 x 92.0 cm
Private collection, Auckland, New Zealand
on loan to Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand
Reproduced with the permission of the Colin McCahon Research and Publication Trust