<em>May His light shine (Tau Cross)</em>, 1978
View large

May His light shine (Tau Cross), 1978

Record number
cm000323
Title

May His light shine (Tau Cross)

Date
1978 - 1979
Medium
synthetic polymer paint
Support
unstretched canvas
Dimensions
1875 x 2380 mm
Inscriptions

TAU CROSS AS A KUMARA GOD. C. McC. NOV. '78. SEPT. 79. (brushpoint, b.l.); MINE THOU LORD OF LIFE SEND MY ROOTS RAIN. (brushpoint, b.r.)

Accession number
C1994/1/64
Extended inscriptions

HE'S / THE / ONE
MAY HIS / light / Shine / ON THE / Kumara / PATCH

Exhibition history

1980 Colin McCahon New Works
Peter Webb Gallery
Auckland
18/2/1980 - 7/3/1980

1991 Cross Currents: Contemporary New Zealand and Australian Art from the Chartwell Collection
Waikato Museum of Art and History
Hamilton
14/7/1991 - 25/8/1991

1998 Dream Collectors: One Hundred Years of Art in New Zealand
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Wellington
14/2/1998 - 7/1998

1999 Colin McCahon: A View from Urewera
City Gallery Wellington
Wellington
6/11/1999 - 13/1/2000

2002 Colin McCahon: A Question of Faith
Stedelijk Museum
Amsterdam
30/8/2002 - 10/11/2002

2011 Toi Aotearoa: Colin McCahon - Texts and Gates
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Auckland
3/9/2011 - 28/1/2013

2019 A Place to Paint: Colin McCahon in Auckland
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Auckland
10/8/2019 - 27/1/2020

Notes

This painting and its companion, May His light shine (Cornwall Park), refer to the Kumara God, a Maori carved fertility figure.

The inscription 'Mine thou Lord of Life send my roots rain' is derived from Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem 'Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord'.