Portrait of Una Platts

Inscribed in pencil ‘Una from Colin’, this quick sketch of the art historian and artist was clearly a gift from one friend to another. On the publication of her landmark dictionary of 19th century New Zealand artists, Platts acknowledged McCahon as someone who had ‘chivvied’ her along on the 26-year-long project.

McCahon undertook relatively few portraits, yet the strong fluid lines of this work show him to be a skilled practitioner. His use of line to summarily describe Platts is reminiscent of the portrait sketches Picasso would produce for the pleasure of his friends and family. (Intimate Portraits, 2005)

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