''Harbour Cone from Peggy's Hill'' (1939) is an early

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

artist

Colin McCahon Colin John McCahon (; 1August 191927May 1987) was a prominent New Zealand artist whose work over 45 years consisted of various styles, including landscape, figuration, abstraction, and the overlay of painted text. Along with Toss Woollaston an ...

Subject

''Harbour Cone from Peggy's Hill'' is one of McCahon's earliest explorations of the Otago region. It depicts an elevated stance from the mountain tops, looking down towards Harbour Cone in the

Otago Peninsula The Otago Peninsula ( mi, Muaūpoko) is a long, hilly indented finger of land that forms the easternmost part of Dunedin, New Zealand. Volcanic in origin, it forms one wall of the eroded valley that now forms Otago Harbour. The peninsula lies sou ...

. This work is one of his more realistic creations - showing a clear landscape theme. Harbour Cone Otago Peninsula

In addition to this exoteric representation, ''Harbour Cone from Peggy's Hill'' also contains more esoteric meanings. McCahon wanted this artwork to express "the concept of nature as a spiritual and redeeming force." In a letter to his friend

Toss Woollaston Sir Mountford Tosswill "Toss" Woollaston (11 April 1910 – 30 August 1998) was a New Zealand artist. He is regarded as one of the most important New Zealand painters of the 20th century. Life Born in Toko, Taranaki in 1910, Woollaston attended ...

he explained: Because of comments such as these, the painting has been read as an evangelical statement designed to connect together God, peace, and the landscape.

Reception

Early Controversy

'' Harbour Cone from Peggy's Hill '' was behind one of the earliest controversies in McCahon's long career. It was excluded from the 1939 Otago Art Society exhibition, despite the fact that each member (including McCahon) was entitled to display one work. Linda Tyler believes that this rejection was due to the absence of support "from an interested and informed public."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harbour Cone from Peggy's Hill 1939 paintings Paintings in New Zealand New Zealand paintings Landscape paintings