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 Landmarks
 Profiles - Philip Clairmont
 Kaleidoscope – Attitudes Towards Landscape
 Kaleidoscope - Toss Woollaston
 Home, Land and Sea
 The Man in the Hat

Synopsis

This documentary looks at the life and work of New Zealand's most celebrated painter, Colin McCahon. The first excerpt looks at McCahon's beginnings in Timaru and Dunedin, and his explorations of modernist techniques in paintings that reconceived 'the promised land' in an endemic landscape. The second excerpt covers McCahon's time in Muriwai in the 60s and 70s, and the influence of the environment and Māori spirituality on his work. Sam Neill reads from McCahon's letters and writings. Directed by Paul Swadel, it won best documentary at the 2005 Qantas Awards.

Credits (17)

 Paul Swadel

Paul Swadel
Director, Writer

 Robin Scholes

Robin Scholes
Producer

 Rachel Gardner

Rachel Gardner
Associate Producer, Writer

See all credits ›

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Comments (1)

 Malcolm

Malcolm

Posted at 09.51PM - 26.02.2012

A well deserved best documentary award for 2005.

View all 1 comments ›

Produced by

 Screentime

Screentime

Source

 Screentime

Screentime

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Related Titles (9)

 Kaleidoscope – Attitudes Towards Landscape

Kaleidoscope – Attitudes Towards Landscape

Television, 1987 (Full Length)

A survey of NZ landscape painting

 The Man in the Hat

The Man in the Hat

Film, 2009 (Full Length)

A documentary on McCahon dealer Peter McLeavey

 Landmarks

Landmarks

Television, 1981

A documentary series looking at NZ history through landscape

 Home, Land and Sea

Home, Land and Sea

Music Video, 2005

I Am composer Rikki Gooch was a member of Trinity Roots

 Kaleidoscope - Toss Woollaston

Kaleidoscope - Toss Woollaston

Television, 1987 (Full Length)

Doco about McCahon mentor Toss Woollaston

 Profiles - Philip Clairmont

Profiles - Philip Clairmont

Television, 1981 (Full Length)

McCahon was an admirer of this artist

 Edith Collier: A Light Among Shadows

Edith Collier: A Light Among Shadows

Film, 2007 (Full Length)

Another modernist painter who depicted NZ landscapes

 Poppy

Poppy

Short Film, 2009 (Full Length)

Produced by Paul Swadel

 Accidents

Accidents

Short Film, 1999 (Full Length)

An award-winning short directed by Swadel

Collections.   See all collections ›  

Included in:

 Artists on Screen Collection

Artists on Screen Collection

Curated by Mark Amery
Added 06 July 2011

Quotes

I think you put on the canvas something I know about New Zealand but have not learnt how to say: the raw vitality and brutal simplification ... 

– James K Baxter in a 1947 letter to McCahon

I imagine people looking at it and then looking at the landscape and for once really seeing it and being happier for it and believing in God and ... in the impossibility of people owning and having more rights to a piece of land and air than anybody else. 

– McCahon in a 1939 letter to Toss Woollaston, about his painting Harbour Cone from Peggy's Hill

Awards

2005 Qantas TV Awards
Best Documentary