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4 unusual facts about Colin McCahon


St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin

In 1942 the artist Colin McCahon married Anne Hamblett in St Matthew's, the ceremony being performed by her father, the Reverend Hamblett, then the incumbent clergyman.

Te Whiti o Rongomai

Numerous artists have used Te Whiti as a subject or inspiration, among them Colin McCahon (with his painting Te Whiti, Tohu) and Ralph Hotere (Te Whiti drawing-painting), both of which were produced for a 1972 exhibition about Te Whiti, "Taranaki Saw it All".

The Orator

:"Thanks in large part to the almost edibly gorgeous cinematography of Leon Narbey, the film is a sumptuously moody visual experience: the opening shot, of rain on a mountain, might have been painted by McCahon; water runs mercury-silver off taro leaves; tiny details like a snail on a gravestone are lingered over lovingly.

University of Auckland

In 1966, lecturers Keith Sinclair and Bob Chapman established The University of Auckland Art Collection, beginning with the purchase of several paintings and drawings by Colin McCahon.


John Caselberg

Along with his wife, artist Anna Caselberg, he was at the centre of a thriving art and literary milieu which included his good friend and collaborator Colin McCahon, father-in-law Toss Woollaston, and writer Charles Brasch.

Rosalie Gascoigne

Knowledgeable and widely read, she was inspired amongst others by the artists Colin McCahon, Ken Whisson, Dick Watkins and Robert Rauschenberg, and the poets William Wordsworth, Peter Porter and Sylvia Plath.


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