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The Angel of the Annunciation, 1947 (oil on cardboard)

IMAGE number
TEP3084374
Image title
The Angel of the Annunciation, 1947 (oil on cardboard)
Artist
McCahon, Colin (1919-87) / New Zealander
Location
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand
Medium
oil on cardboard
Date
1947 AD (C20th AD)
Dimensions
63.8x52.1 cms
Image description

This painting belongs to a series of religious paintings that Colin McCahon produced during the late 1940s and early 1950s. In these works, the artist took on a formidable challenge: creating art with a strong social message through a style of painting that was bracingly modern by contemporary New Zealand standards. Nativity in the Nelson hills Although not directly involved in World War II, the conflict left McCahon with a keen social conscience and a sense of personal mission. He had a long-standing interest in religious art, and looked to painters of the past, especially to the Italian primitives, in an effort to bring biblical stories to life for New Zealanders. In this work and others of the period, McCahon boldly locates biblical events in the New Zealand landscape. Here, the annunciation takes place in Nelson, with the local golf club in the background and the monumental golden hills beyond. A shocking message The Angel of the Annunciation recalls the work of modern European artists such as Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch, and Georges Rouault. But in New Zealand there had been no precedent for art like this, with its deliberately thick black outlines, crude forms, ungainly figures, and expressive colour. Audiences were shocked, even outraged, and McCahon was accused of vulgarity and incompetence. Text and image In The Angel of the Annunciation, the title becomes an integral part of the composition, anticipating other works in which McCahon would use the comic-book device of speech balloons to give voice to his characters.

Photo credit
© Museum of New Zealand te Papa Tongarewa / Purchased 1980 with Special Projects in the Arts funds / Bridgeman Images
Image keywords
angel / landscape / cottage / mountainous / text / virgin / mountains / annunciation / house / gabriel / madonna / Painting / Mzpainting
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Largest available format 3632 × 4498 px 6 MB
Dimension [pixels] Dimension in 300dpi [mm] File size [MB]
Large 3632 × 4498 px 308 × 381 mm 5.8 MB
Medium 827 × 1024 px 70 × 87 mm 1.3 MB

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