A Potent Way of Talking: Colin McCahon and the Urewera triptych
Edited by: Hamish Coney
Essays by: Laurence Simmons and Linda Tyler
Format: Casebound | 192 pages | 210 x 280 mm
ISBN: 978-0-473-72794-9
Published: with the assistance of the Rebecca Wilkinson Trust
A Potent Way of Talking is a powerful new account of Colin McCahon’s landmark engagement with Te Urewera, Tūhoe history, and the spiritual legacy of Rua Kēnana and Te Kooti.
In 1974, McCahon was commissioned by the National Parks Board to create a mural to honour “the mystery of Man in the Urewera.” Working alongside architect John Scott, he grappled with the weight of Tūhoe history and the limits of his own understanding of Māori spiritual concepts.
Set against the political backdrop of the 1975 Dame Whina Cooper-led hīkoi, McCahon’s final mural was installed at Āniwaniwa near Lake Waikaremoana. But his preferred response was an earlier version: the Urewera triptych, a powerful, large-scale painting that burns with the immediacy of revelation.
This book traces the journey from McCahon’s first sketches to the cultural reckoning that followed, including the 2014 Crown apology to Tūhoe. It offers a deeply researched exploration of land, resistance, and artistic vision, travelling through Maungapōhatu, the scorched-earth years of the 1860s, and the arrest of Rua Kēnana.
Richly illustrated with archival and contemporary photographs by John Collie, David Cook, Peter Quinn, John Miller, Max Oettli, Sarah Smuts-Kennedy, David Straight, and Ans Westra.
Design: Philip Kelly
Printing: INC. Productions
Made in Aotearoa. Ships nationwide.
Download info sheet
For wholesale enquiries, please get in touch
Edited by: Hamish Coney
Essays by: Laurence Simmons and Linda Tyler
Format: Casebound | 192 pages | 210 x 280 mm
ISBN: 978-0-473-72794-9
Published: with the assistance of the Rebecca Wilkinson Trust
A Potent Way of Talking is a powerful new account of Colin McCahon’s landmark engagement with Te Urewera, Tūhoe history, and the spiritual legacy of Rua Kēnana and Te Kooti.
In 1974, McCahon was commissioned by the National Parks Board to create a mural to honour “the mystery of Man in the Urewera.” Working alongside architect John Scott, he grappled with the weight of Tūhoe history and the limits of his own understanding of Māori spiritual concepts.
Set against the political backdrop of the 1975 Dame Whina Cooper-led hīkoi, McCahon’s final mural was installed at Āniwaniwa near Lake Waikaremoana. But his preferred response was an earlier version: the Urewera triptych, a powerful, large-scale painting that burns with the immediacy of revelation.
This book traces the journey from McCahon’s first sketches to the cultural reckoning that followed, including the 2014 Crown apology to Tūhoe. It offers a deeply researched exploration of land, resistance, and artistic vision, travelling through Maungapōhatu, the scorched-earth years of the 1860s, and the arrest of Rua Kēnana.
Richly illustrated with archival and contemporary photographs by John Collie, David Cook, Peter Quinn, John Miller, Max Oettli, Sarah Smuts-Kennedy, David Straight, and Ans Westra.
Design: Philip Kelly
Printing: INC. Productions
Made in Aotearoa. Ships nationwide.
Download info sheet
For wholesale enquiries, please get in touch
Edited by: Hamish Coney
Essays by: Laurence Simmons and Linda Tyler
Format: Casebound | 192 pages | 210 x 280 mm
ISBN: 978-0-473-72794-9
Published: with the assistance of the Rebecca Wilkinson Trust
A Potent Way of Talking is a powerful new account of Colin McCahon’s landmark engagement with Te Urewera, Tūhoe history, and the spiritual legacy of Rua Kēnana and Te Kooti.
In 1974, McCahon was commissioned by the National Parks Board to create a mural to honour “the mystery of Man in the Urewera.” Working alongside architect John Scott, he grappled with the weight of Tūhoe history and the limits of his own understanding of Māori spiritual concepts.
Set against the political backdrop of the 1975 Dame Whina Cooper-led hīkoi, McCahon’s final mural was installed at Āniwaniwa near Lake Waikaremoana. But his preferred response was an earlier version: the Urewera triptych, a powerful, large-scale painting that burns with the immediacy of revelation.
This book traces the journey from McCahon’s first sketches to the cultural reckoning that followed, including the 2014 Crown apology to Tūhoe. It offers a deeply researched exploration of land, resistance, and artistic vision, travelling through Maungapōhatu, the scorched-earth years of the 1860s, and the arrest of Rua Kēnana.
Richly illustrated with archival and contemporary photographs by John Collie, David Cook, Peter Quinn, John Miller, Max Oettli, Sarah Smuts-Kennedy, David Straight, and Ans Westra.
Design: Philip Kelly
Printing: INC. Productions
Made in Aotearoa. Ships nationwide.
Download info sheet
For wholesale enquiries, please get in touch