This is one of McCahon's major works of the mid-1970s, along with the Urewera Mural, the Blind series, and the Parihaka Triptych. It has several motivations and triggers. The primary one is the shining cuckoo's song, spoken of in a Maori poem passed…
12 in The Jack & Ethel McCahon gift to the Hocken LibraryMcCahon writes: "Landscape from North end of Tomahawk beach, Dunedin. 9 3/4 x 11 1/2. watercolour. Signal hill in distance. These two date mid 30s - the bottom one I like-"
Lower left (l.l.) in pencil: Greetings to Mondrian’s Chrysanthemum of 1908; l.r. in pencil: Colin McCahon August 1971 Kaipara Flat; papermakers chop: Steinbach Malmedy; label: Mollers Gallery.
Lower centre (l.c.) with brush: McCahon August ’59; u.l. - c.r. with brush: God, it is all dark. The heart beat but there is no answering hark of a hearer and no-one to speak; l.r. with brush: John in Canterbury; verso: Colin McCahon No 36 August…