Colin McCahon
May His Light Shine (Tau Cross)

Artwork Detail
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)
- Title
- May His Light Shine (Tau Cross)
- Artist/creator
- Production date
- 1978-1979
- Medium
- synthetic polymer paint on unstretched canvas
- Dimensions
- 1875 x 2380 mm
- Credit line
- Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 1980
- Accession no
- C1994/1/64
- Copyright
- Copying restrictions apply
- Department
- New Zealand Art
- Display status
- Not on display
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