The Canoe Mamari, 1969

The Canoe Mamari

1: THE CANOE MARAMI. [sic] THE FIRST HISTORY. (brushpoint, t.l.); McCahon April '69 (brushpoint, b.l.); Colin McCahon / The canoe Mamari / No 1 of a series of 4 / The April / Paintings. 1969 (on reverse)
2: THE CANOE MARAMA. [sic] THE SECOND HISTORY. (brushpoint, t.l.); McCahon April '69. (brushpoint, b.l.); Colin McCahon / The Canoe Mamari / No 2 of a series of 4 / The April Paintings / 1969 (on reverse)
3: THE CANOE MAMARI. THE THIRD HISTORY. (brushpoint, t.l.); McCahon April '69 (brushpoint, b.l.); Colin McCahon / The Canoe Mamari / No 3 of a series of 4 / The April paintings / 1969. (on reverse)
4: THE CANOE MAMARI. THE FOURTH HISTORY. (brushpoint, t.l.); McCahon April '69. (brushpoint, b.l.); Colin McCahon / The Canoe Mamari / No 4. Series of 4 / The April Paintings 1969 (on reverse)

1: THE CHIEF OF THE CANOE
WAS RANUI
HIS SONS WERE
KORAKO-NUI-A-RUA
TE MARU-O-TE-
HUIA
AND RUATAPU.

2: KORAKO-NUI-A-
-RUA HAD
A SON MATITI WHOSE
SON WAS HAKUMANU
WHOSE SON WAS TAIWAWE
WHOSE SON WAS
TUPUTA

3: TUPATA HAD A SON
RUANUI (THE SECOND)
WHOSE SON WAS TARAUAUA
WHOSE SON WAS MORE
WHOSE SONS WERE TE
IKANUI AND WHEERU.
WHEERU MARRIED
TAIMAINIA

4: TE IKANUI WHO WAS
YOUNGER THAN HIS BROTHER
WHEERU HAD A LARGE
FAMILY
AND MANY DESCENDANTS.
THE CHIEF OF THE CANOE WAS
RUANUI
THE NAME OF THE
CANOE WAS
MAMARI

1969 An Exhibition of Paintings by Colin McCahon
Peter McLeavey Gallery
Wellington
22/7/1969 - 9/8/1969

2001 Colin McCahon: A Time for Messages
National Gallery of Victoria
Melbourne
2/2/2001 - 13/5/2001

2009 Picturing History: Goldie to Cotton
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Auckland
25/4/2009 - 21/2/2010

2017 Colin McCahon: On Going Out with the Tide
City Gallery Wellington
Wellington
8/4/2017 - 30/7/2017

The text is from the preface to Matire Kereama's The Tail of the Fish: Maori Memories of the Far North (Oswald-Sealy, Auckland, 1968).